Echoes of the Soul
by Lysander45
Summary: 1 year after the failed wedding Ranma and Akane try again, their love deeper than ever. But a hollow attacks and tragedy strikes. And one man must conquer the darkness within his soul to return to the one he loves. RanmaBleach Xover.
1. Painful Sacrifice

**Echoes of the Soul**

**By Lysander45**

**A Ranma ½ Bleach Crossover with possible crossovers into other manga as the story unfolds.**

**Please note, knowledge of both manga/anime is compulsory. I don't intend to spend half of my time explaining rivalries and so on, it would just take ages. For timelines sake, the story begins one month before the Bleach manga begins, and one year after the Ranma ½ manga ends. Enjoy.**

**Chapter 1 – Painful Sacrifice**

It is noon. The location is Nerima, Tokyo, Japan. Today is a very special day, the day of a long prepared and thoroughly overdue wedding. For over two years, Saotome Ranma and his father Genma Saotome have been lodging at the residence of the Tendo family. And during that time, a powerful love was born.

"Saotome Ranma, do you take Tendo Akane as your lawfully wedded wife. To have and to hold, in sickness and in health, until death do you part" speaks the voice of an old man dressed for a change in the apparel of a priest.

"I do" intones a strong masculine voice, no hesitation whatsoever in his tone.

The small old man nodded, "And do you Akane take Ranma to be your lawfully wedded husband. To have and to hold, in sickness and in health, until death do you part"

"I do" replied a female voice, happiness resonating in every word.

"Then by the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

The pair embrace, to a surprising roar of cheers. This is unusual if you know the history of this pair, Ranma and Akane. You see, all of his life Ranma has been fighting. Since he was six years old he travelled the world with his father on a training trip to turn him into a man amongst men, the greatest martial artist the world has ever seen trained in the Saotome family style of Musabetsu Kakutō Ryū. During this time his father, a greedy man by nature sold Ranma dozens upon dozens of times, to dozens upon dozens of families as a fiancée to dozens upon dozens of daughters for seemingly ridiculous prices.

To the latter part of his trip Ranma travelled with his father to the scared springs of Jusenkyo, a legendary training ground deep within the Bayankala mountain regions of the Qinghai Province, China. There during a training bout with his father, after being warned by their guide several times, the pair were placed under a terrible curse by the springs in which they each fell. Genma was struck into the Shonmaonīchuan and was cursed to forever transform into a panda when splashed by cold water, Ranma was hurled into the Nyannīchuan cursed to forever transform into a girl. And so the troubled life of Saotome Ranma was thrown from out of the pan and into the fire.

Not one year hence from that fateful time Ranma had found himself betrothed to several women and pursued by several men, the latter down to his attractive female half. He has accumulated rivals and fought off numerous challenges from other Jusenkyo victims, Amazons, the Musk and most notably the Phoenix King Saffron whom he was forced to kill. And finally there was the fabled marriage one year ago, when he and Akane first tired to join each other in matrimony only to be halted by the aggressive behaviour of their other suitors who destroyed the wedding day.

Since that day, Ranma underwent a sort of spiritual epiphany. He realized that all his life he had shackled himself with his pride, stopping himself from growing up and letting others into his life. Determined to settle his life into something more peaceful and marry the woman he had come to love, he began a long and hard journey to clear his past of all misgivings. He personally visited every family his father had sold him to and explained his situation, apologizing at not being able to marry their daughters and offering repayment (which few took, they approached his honesty more than anything). He made peace with every rival and fighter he had ever had a dispute with.

To Kuno and Kodachi he revealed his curse, and after several explanations and demonstrations he was able to force the truth through the siblings blissfully naïve and thick skulls. He made peace with the Amazons, undergoing an ancient ritual to make himself a brother Amazon and warrior of the tribe. This allowed Cologne the emphasis to nullify Shampoo's kiss of marriage, and though the young girl was terribly distraught Ranma explained that even if he did marry her, the would only hurt her by not being able to reciprocate her feelings. He was able to calm Mousse, who attacked him for hurting his Shampoo, by stating that Shampoo no longer has any claim on him and that if Mousse wanted her to love him, he would have to be patient and just try to be her friend first. This made the half blind Amazon completely forget his quarrel with Ranma quickly, and the pair developed a more healthy rivalry as warriors.

Ryoga was harder, since the Eternally Lost Boy had his heart set hopelessly on Akane. So during one his many attacks to try to win Akane, Ranma allowed his rival to beat him to within an inch of his life. He then began to question Ryoga, asking why he always blamed others for his own problems. If Ryoga loved Akane, why was he never honest to her? The only girl he had ever been honest to was Akari who loved him deeply, yet he scorned her. These questions confused Ryoga initially, leading him to get lost and spend a half a month in Russia thinking to himself. When he returned he had decided to give Akari a chance, but promised Ranma that he still loved Akane and that if he ever hurt her he would be there to kill him.

Ukyo was easier to convince, since they had been firm friends before their betrothal. Ranma explained to her how he had always thought her as a boy, never understanding the questions she asked him due to his naïve young age. She accepted that but asked for her dowry that Genma stole and the years she had lost seeking revenge. Ranma could only ask her forgiveness, reasoning that she already had the dowry back in the form of her restaurant that she opened to get close to him. After some time she was able to think of Ranma more as a friend, but the wounds still run deep.

Then there was Happousai. Trapping the old pervert in a net of his own stolen undergarments Ranma had a long hard chat with the Grandmaster of the Musabetsu Kakutō Ryū. He promised to become Happousai's pupil and do the old mans bidding until he was worthy of succeeding him, only so long as he gave him and Akane five years of happiness. Impressed by the boys desire to be with Akane, Happousai agreed citing that in his old age he was beginning to feel a little weary, and looked forward to having a worthy pupil in Ranma.

Then there were the other rivals, Herb, Pantyhose Taro and so on. They each sorted themselves out in their own since he had already defeated them several times. To Taro he promised to reason with Happousai about his name, which pleased the Chinese martial artist greatly. Herb he promised to share a cure with when he found it, which was reason enough for the musk prince. Ranma spent a hard month with Ryu Kumon rebuilding the Kumon family dojo from its ruins, clearing the bad blood between them.

With all of that sorted, Ranma returned and in a quick and awkward exchange of sentiment admitted his love for her. This opened the path for an equally awkward courting process where the pair spent more time together trying to create something of a relationship. He also confessed both his and Genma's curses to his mother, who whilst annoyed at her husband was able to accept Ranma as a man amongst men and a woman amongst women. Time by now has taken its steady course and now, and they are both married before a quiet procession of their friends and family. A western ceremony like before, only this time there was no animosity in the air.

Ranma split from his kiss with Akane only to be tackled by his weeping mother. "Oh Ranma you have made me the happiest mother in the world. I can finally see my little man start a family of his own, with the family honour strong and untouched I might add. You here that Genma…" she growled, turning to look at her bald husband, who was busy gorging himself on the nearby buffet. "…Your son, o husband of mine, has single handily saved this family from the gutter no thanks to you. Now congratulate your son on finally fulfilling your damned pledge or I'll shove this katana so far up your flabby rear you'll taste steel on the tip of your tongue!!"

Genma quickly swallowed and complied, running to his wife's side muttering 'Yes dear' quickly. He turned to face Ranma and adopted a more solemn expression. "Boy, you've done me proud in ways I am unable to express. I only hope that they years you spend now with Akane are happy (and that you can keep me and Soun secure until old age)" he intoned in a faux-wise voice, whispering the last part under his breath to avoid the wrath of his wife.

"Uh, thanks pops…I guess" Ranma replied sheepishly, a little overwhelmed by everything that was happening around him. For him, it was a day he had been owed for a long long time, a day of peace and happiness.

"Indeed boyo, its good to see a little luck heading your way aye" came a voice from behind the group. Pushing past his former apprentice, Happousai looked up at Ranma and beamed a wrinkly grin that was thoroughly creepy to all. He was dressed in the traditional garb of a Shinto priest, as he had asked to perform the ceremony. "You two are the future m'boy, you two are the future. Us old folks built the foundations, and now its time for you and Akane to build one that and take the art into new heights.

Receiving similar speeches from several other guests, Ranma finally managed to move out of the way to Akane's side at the other end of the aisle. Wrapping his arms around her from behind and kissing her neck softly, he asked his new wife "You okay?"

Akane sighed at the contact, having long got used to the more sensitive side of her 'cross dressing pervert'. "I'm better than okay Ranma…I'm whole. This mess that we've lived in for so long, there's finally an end to it."

"Yeah, I can hardly believe it either. Everythin's lookin up Akane, I just know it. We've no longer got to go to Furinkan, Tokyo College accepted you..."

"Us, it accepted us" she corrected him, an air of her former haughtiness in her voice.

"Yeah, I'm in only on a sports scholarship. You got in on brains…who'd have thought it huh?" he joked, earning an elbow in the ribs.

"Don't push your luck…baka" Akane whispered, giggling at the end before pulling her husband into a kiss, which he accepted with vigour.

The kiss continued for a couple of seconds, during which Ranma could not help but think 'I am so lucky. Nothing can spoil this moment'. And at that moment, nothing decided to crash the party. A terribly bloodcurdling roar cut through the air, pinning everyone to the ground where they stood with fear. Ranma split from Akane and turned to face the source, his eyes bugging from their sockets when he saw it.

Climbing out of a black tear in the air above the dojo was some kind on oni, a demon of the darkest hell. Its body was that of a bear, except this bear was ten feet tall with blood red fur and a large hole in its chest. Spines of bone white jutted out into points from its forearms and back, and in the place of hands were wicked claws. Three 'fingers' and one 'thumb', each tipped with a claw of bone white like the spines, fifteen inches long. And its face, its face was a mask the same colour as its claws and spines. A jagged maw like a shark filled most of the face, with two serpent slits for a nose and a single red eye in the centre of what could be called its forehead. Dark red tiger stripes came up from the spiked chin to beneath the eyes, completing the malevolent image.

Breath came out of its jaw in deep ragged breaths, and its singular eye fixed itself on the party below. Its voice, like curdled blood and nails down a chalkboard rang clear. "So much condensed reiatsu, all in one place. Looks like I've hit the jackpot this time" and with a heave it pulled its body fully out of the black tear in the sky. Landing with a thud on the ground, it breathed in deep. "Which one shall slate my hunger first" it growled, seeming to take its time pondering the question.

"Akane…" a voice called from the group of wedding guests "…what's going on Akane, what was that sound?" Looking to see who was calling her, Akane saw Yuka looking puzzled. "You can't see it Yuka, that monster is right in front of you all" Akane shouted hurriedly.

"RUN!! EVERYBODY RUN NOW!!" called a wizened old voice. It was Cologne, hopping forwards on her cane. Most just stared at her dumbly, but a quick look into her eyes said she was serious. Quickly picking things up, the group of school friends, family members and other such guests began to run towards the exit.

"Kuno, Kodachi, get everyone out of here now!" Ranma called to the kendoist and his sister, who looked slightly affronted at being ordered by somebody. It was Kuno who spoke first.

"It shall be done Saotome; you have the word of the Blue Thunder that none of these lowly peasant folk shall be harmed by yonder demon. I shall return, and strike it down with mine blade of righteousness" the deranged teenager cried out, thunder sounding in the distance as it always did with Kuno's proclamations.

"Good now go! Old Ghoul what is that thing?!" Ranma shouted to her, frantically thinking of what to do. Some…beast…had interrupted his wedding party, and judging from it's appearance it was not friendly.

"I don't care what it is, it's dead! Shi Shi Hokodan!" roared Ryoga, pushing back a frightened Akari before throwing his cupped hands forward. A beam of powerful green ki fired from his hands, shooting towards the monster quickly knocking aside chairs and debris in its path. The monster looked at the projectile, opened its maw wide and proceeded to swallow the blast whole, sucking the energy down its gullet.

"So sad…so sweet. GIVE ME MORE!!" it roared, diving at Ryoga. Mid-air it was intercepted by another roaring noise. A great mooing bellow attached to a great black fist smashed into the side of the beasts face, hurtling it towards the Tendo's home. Crashing through the walls like they were paper (ooh I made a joke). It did not move from the debris, giving the Wrecking Crew a momentary breather. By now all of the normal guests had ran, what was left was the rag tag group of martial artists, cursed fighters and warriors.

A transformed Taro bellowed as it flexed its massive arms in defiance. Behind it a transformed Rouge had murder in her eyes as she prepared to bathe the creature in fire. Cologne waved them back, and turned to answer Ranma. "That monster is called a Hollow. An evil spirit rarely encountered by the Joketsuzoku, they are demons that devour the souls of the living and the dead. Normally most normal people are unable to see them since they are composed of a different energy to the living, but many martial artists have found themselves seeing hollows as a result of their training in ki and mediation. We must tread carefully or flee, they are terrifying opponents. You saw it devour your Shi Shi Hokodan Ryoga. That technique was merely a snack for it to feast on."

"Then how do we fight it!" demanded a shaky Ryu Kumon, invited to the wedding after Ranma helped him with his dojo.

"What I said, most warriors who encounter it run. Or at least hold it off until a shinigami appears" replied a watchful Cologne

"Shiniwhat" said Ranma, who was busy building up a steady supply of ki within his body to use at a moments notice. If the Shi Shi Hokodan served only as a morsel for the 'hollow' as Cologne called it, then his Moko Takabisha would do no different.

"Shinigami m'boy, death gods, soul reapers call them what you will. Legendary spirit warriors who appear to collect the souls of the dead and send them to heaven. They protect the world from any hollows that might appear to slaughter the innocent" supplied Happousai.

"You know your lore Happy" said Cologne with surprise.

"As you well know, live long enough and you learn a few things" Happousai retorted, pulling several bombs from within his Shinto robes. And only just in time, as a series of jagged shards of bone were fired from within the rubble of the Tendo's home. Most were able to leap clear, Taro however being not quite as agile as the others in his cursed form caught a shard in the stomach. It pierced clean through his body and out the other side in a shower of blood and gore. He moaned in pain and collapsed on the floor in a heap, bleeding heavily from his wound.

The hollow exploded out of the rubble, spines re-growing out of its left arm. 'It can fire the shards as weapons' Ranma thought, wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead. He flipped backwards just in time to avoid a disembowelling slash from the hollows claws, landing on the roof of the dojo. The hollow gazed at Ranma with its one eye, and the pig-tailed martial artist could swear he saw the beast licking its lips. But before it could move several explosions impacted against its back, Happousai had thrown his cache of Daikarin at the hollow, and the rest of the martial artists followed suit with their attacks. Mousse began throwing his deadliest weapons at the monster, wicked blades, chains, chunks of masonry, etc. Shampoo had readied her bonbori and was watching for an opening, Cologne had initiated her Wareme Neko Hea technique to confuse the hollow, and Ryu was preparing to unleash a flurry of Kijin Raishu Dan to slice the beast to pieces. As one they attacked, projectiles and physical blows shooting towards the hollow and in a flash a massive explosion shook the earth.

Ranma covered his eyes and waited for the smoke to clear. In an uneven circle around the hollow the group of attackers stood, their attacks leaving a second or so gap. Ranma almost cheered, had they managed to harm the creature. A bloodcurdling roar answered him, and instants later he was jumping into the air again. A storm of bony spines fired out from the smoke, which cleared to reveal a slightly charred hollow with a large cut across its right arm. Cologne had managed to pull herself and Shampoo out of the way, although the younger Amazon had received a shard through the left thigh which stopped her from moving. Ryu was unconscious with a three clawed gash down his back, his skin and muscle shredded. Mousse was pinned to the Dojo wall by two shards, one through the left arm and another through the right shoulder, his blood pooling at his feet. Ranma looked at Ryoga who nodded, and the two martial artists leapt at the monster that had already decimated their group. They moved in tandem, one reflecting the moves of the other. Ranma shifted into a flying kick whilst Ryoga swept the hollows feet from under its body, and together they knocked the beast back one or two steps. Whilst Ryoga attempted to land some withering full strength blows to the back, Ranma was pounding the chest as fast as he could with his Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken. Several blows ended up passing into the hole in the hollows chest, eliciting screams of agony from the beast.

They both dodged under the hollows return swipes and moved away to regroup. As the hollow turned about its axis as massive corona of flame and lightening. Rouge was attacking with both the fiery breath from her Asura forms three heads, and the lighting bolts she could fire from her fists. This caught the hollow off guard sending it flying through the air to impact in one of the walls surrounding the Tendo dojo complex.

Capitalizing on the weak point Rouge charged forwards at a blinding speed, fire surrounding her six arms as she prepared to eliminate the beast that had hurt so many around her. But she was so caught up in the moment she did not notice the hollows hands glow red. With a distinct booming sound, like a sonic boom, she was thrown back by the burst of red energy from the hollows hands that hit her like a steam train. Crashing straight through the dojo, taking Mousse with her as she went, Rouge collapsed under a pile of rubble and masonry unconscious and severely bruised.

'Shit that's Rouge down as well. Only me, Ryoga, the Old Ghoul, the pervert and…Akane. Oh my God Akane' Ranma thought with fear. The hollow shifted itself from its feet, growling like an animal. "So many strong souls, fighting Spinebear. But look, one is not moving…lets devour her first of all. The others are already beaten, taste her fear then eat them hehe"

Akane had been unable to move, pure terror gripping her heart. Ukyo was by her side, deciding to protect her since she was unable to move. She owed that much to Ranchan, to look after what he loved even if it was not her. She saw the monster called a hollow run at her bellowing like the beast it was. Ryoga attempted to halt it with a Bakusai Tenketsu, showering it with chunks of exploded earth. But as he did that he left himself open and was backhanded out of the way. Cologne moved in to knock it down with her staff, but the hard wood broke on impact with the hollows mask. She was knocked aside by a head butt, but was caught by Happousai before she could hit anything like so many others had.

Ukyo readied her battle spatula as it seemed the monsters attack was imminent. Doubt filled her mind; so many others had been beaten by this seemingly monstrous creature, so many others much stronger than herself. "Dammit Akane move, Ranchan's fighting why aren't you. Talk about a useless wife!" she spat, trying to insult the famously fiery girl into action. Akane looked up from her reverie, uttering a single word as she looked onwards "Ranma?"

This word made Ukyo look forward. Ranma was standing before them, poised to attack the hollow. "Stay away from my wife!!" he yelled, ducking beneath the hollows claw swipe his fist cocked back. "Lets see how you like this, Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken!" he cried out, his fist blurring as he pushed the technique faster and harder than he ever had before. Hundreds upon hundreds of times he struck the beast, and each time within the same spot, its hole. Every time his fist entered the seemingly vacuous space, Ranma felt a slight tugging feeling within his chest, like his soul itself was being battered coming into contact with the circular void.

The hollow roared in pain, pain that it had sworn to itself it would never allow itself to feel. Focusing all its malice it gazed with its one eye down at the human that had dared hurt it twice. The spines on its right arm flattened against the red fur and began to grow, spiralling around the limb until a long spear of bone was created in the place of a forearm. Roaring it drove the weapon forwards, intending to skewer the boy like a hog on a spit. Ranma was too busy to notice this, capitalizing as he was on his initial lucky attack. He knew he had one chance to kill it; he needed to blow it away. But he couldn't use his Hiryu Shoten Ha or any other technique, the only thing he could do was blast it with a Moko Takabisha. Ki blasts of such power that the hollow could not devour it, but it devour the hollow. Did he have that sort of strength…maybe, but it could kill him to expend that much ki in one attack.

'Gotta do it, Akane's counting on me' he thought, gathering everything he had into his hands. He felt the strain on his body, not since Saffron had he pushed his ki reserves to such a limit. But he pushed them to that limit and beyond, his body screaming in agony as it was drained of every last drop of physical energy. Forming a blazing aura around his fist, Ranma drove it into the hollows open mouth screaming at the top of his lungs "DAI MOKO TAKABISHA!!" And as the column of searing energy lanced from his palm into the hollows gaping maw, the hollows spear of spine and bone entered Ranma's mid drift. Both pierced straight through their targets, the hollows attack leaving Ranma with practically no innards, Ranma's attack destroying the hollows head shoulders and torso.

**Nearby**

Shuhei Hisagi moved quickly across the rooftops towards his destination. The hollow had emerged several minutes ago but not in the location that had been given to him by Kaname-taicho. He did not know why his captain had not sent a lower ranked member of the 9th Division, since it was quite rare for vice-captains to be dispatched to the real world because of their destructive powers and the effects their abilities had on the world as they fought. But he had not argued, since his captain had informed him that the hollow was marked to possess a particularly unusual strength, requiring an officer of his level to investigate and destroy it rather than a low level unseated shinigami. The hollow had appeared on the radar near the Nerima district of Japan, but he had arrived in the real world several miles from the target. He moved with haste mulling over the order wondering why it had come not just from his own captain, Kaname Tosen, but also from Sosuke Aizen, the captain of the 5th Division.

He sped through the field of what appeared to be a local schoolyard and moved as fast as he could towards the pulses of spiritual pressure in the distance. There was a large concentration of spirit energy where the hollow was, he could feel it even from his distance. He stopped suddenly as the reiatsu spiked, and the there was a large booming noise. A great column of energy fired into the air reaching upwards like a spear into the sky.

'What the hell' he thought, and raced even faster in the direction of the blast.

**Back at the Wedding**

Ranma looked at the hollow, or rather what was left of it. The entire upper body of the monster had been blasted apart by his enhanced Moko Takabisha. He had beaten the creature, he had saved Akane and Ukyo and everyone. He felt strangely numb, but put that down to using so much ki in one attack. Then he heard a voice, almost fuzzy, when did his hearing get so bad? Turning he saw Akane and Ukyo rushing towards him, and he felt his body falling to the ground. Hitting the earth with a thud, he wondered why he felt so weak. Then the pain hit him like a thousand red hot pokers being pushed into his guts, and he looked down at his stomach. Or rather where his stomach should have been. In its place was a ragged gaping hole almost as wide as he was, had it been any bigger and he would have been naught than a torso, chest arms and head. The Hollows spear-like arm had dislodged itself, taking blood and chunks of gory flesh and entrails with it.

All of the survivors rushed to his side, Cologne had regained consciousness and moved supported by Happousai, Shampoo hobbled along with Ryoga for balance, Ukyo and Akane running with tears streaming from their eyes.

"Do not worry mere mortals, for Tatewaki Kuno has brought his blade of holy steel and the local physician to tend your many wounds…by the gods" Kuno entered, ranting as usual until he noticed Ranma on the floor.

"Doctor Tofu, quickly help Ranma!" Ryoga yelled, and the good doctor quickly moved to inspect the damage, only to curse out loud.

"Why aren't you doing anything" Akane cried, supporting Ranma's head on her lap. Blood stained her white wedding dress crimson, but she did not notice nor care. All of her attention was on the man she had come to love.

"There's nothing he can do" said Happousai sadly, his head hung low.

"NO!! I won't believe that, there must be something there must..." she cried, tears flowing down her cheeks like small rivers. She was interrupted by a hacking cough and minute mumbling, coming from the man in her arms. Ranma tried to talk but found it difficult, eventually managing to croak out the words.

"It's…okay…Akane. I know…my time's…up…you know…my times…up. Typical…huh? My one…shot…at…happiness and…fate…has…another…kick in the nuts…for me. Dammit."

"Don't try to talk Ranma, save your strength. You'll be fine, I died once but you brought me back, remember. At Jusendo, you brought me back to life. I can do that for you…right?!" Akane babbled, her mind frantically trying to find an answer. The man she loved was clearly dying in her arms, and she was powerless to do a thing.

"Don't…worry…bout it. Kami…you're…so…beautiful…Akane…how did I…ever…get…so…lucky. I…love…you…so much…Akane…" Ranma muttered through bloody chapped lips, before with one great coughing hack he spat up a great wad of blood and collapsed, motionless, limp, and dead.

"Ranma…Ranma!! No, don't leave me you baka! Don't go!! RANMA!!" Akane screamed, clutching her dead fiancée tightly to her body rocking back and forth. All of the others looked onwards, each in various stages of tears. Even the two three hundred year old martial artists, Happousai and Cologne, had small dribbles of tears down their leathery cheeks. A great martial artist had died, and an even greater friend.

Running as fast as he could, Hisagi managed to clear the street and enter the household complex. He quickly looked at the situation and swore. He saw the hollow, dead, and the destruction it had caused, the people it had hurt. And what's more he saw the dead human, cradled in the arms of a screaming girl…in a wedding dress. 'Shit that must be they guys wife…that hollow, on their wedding day of all things' he thought, saving several choice insults for another time. Situations like this one affirmed in his mind just how much he loathed hollows, bitter spirits who do nothing but cause devastation and grief wherever they go.

'In a minute his soul will appear, I need to be ready to perform the burial' he thought as he approached the group. He was shocked to see the two troll-like…children notice his presence and stare at him in reverence. 'They can see me?!' he thought in shock, put after a brief check of their reiryoku he noticed that they had far more 'presence' than most normal humans. So he adopted a less serious expression and advanced, trying to look friendly. "Easy there. The hollows dead, but I need to perform the konso on his soul."

"Of course shinigami-sama, we understand" spoke out Cologne, who caught the others, attention. One by one they looked up from Ranma and noticed Hisagi standing there, hand on his katana.

"You…you're a shinigami? Where were you?!" demanded Ryoga, understanding the situation from what he had heard from Cologne earlier.

"I apologize, but I appeared off target and had to run to reach here. I moved as quickly as possible but…I was not fast enough. I am sorry for your loss" Hisagi spoke as formally as he could, unused as he was to being seen by humans.

"You're sorry. MY husband is DEAD you BASTARD! How can sorry bring him back! He's dead because you were not here to kill that monster! He's dead because you didn't do your job! He's dead…"

"That's enough Akane! Leave him be"

A familiar voice stopped the angry, grieving young woman in mid shout, venting as she was her emotions of the strange spirit who had appeared in their midst. Akane looked away from the man in the black hakama to see…"Ranma?" she uttered in disbelief.

Indeed, Saotome Ranma stood before the group, looking grimly down at his bloody corpse. No longer was there a gaping hole were his insides should have been but a chain dangling from his chest, his spirit reflecting the wholeness of his mind. "It's not his fault Akane…" he continued "…he was doing his duty, as I did mine. I knew what I was doing when I attacked that hollow. I used everything I had, every last shred of ki in my body to kill it. So you see, even if its attack had not hit me, I would have probably died anyway from exhaustion. The body can only take so much before it expires"

"How…why?" Akane replied, everyone else remaining silent as the lovers exchanged what would in all likelihood be their last words.

"Like I said before, because I love you, you kawaikune tomboy" he chided

"Baka pervert" Akane bit back, her voice quaking with held back sorrow.

Turning to the crowd Ranma spoke out "I'm sorry everyone. Seems once again my bad luck magnet brought you all nothing but trouble"

"Don't you dare say that" said Kasumi, who had come back with Doctor Tofu to help with anyone that was injured.

"It's true though. With me gone, you'll all probably get some peace and quiet. Anyway, I suck at goodbye's so…" he turned to look at Hisagi "…so how does this work then, you sendin me over? Not painful I hope" Ranma said laughing.

"Its simple really, I just tap you with the stamp on my zanpakuto's nakagojiri and you ascend to heaven" Hisagi replied.

"Oh, well just one thing before I go…" Ranma quickly moved over to Akane, who was still crouched on the floor holding his corpse, and kissed her on the lips. She could just about feel it, like an echo of something once held. "…I love you so much Akane. I hope you can move on and find love again, I can't bear to think of you being unhappy on my account.'

Breaking the kiss, Ranma moved over to the hollows body and bowed to it. "You may be a demon, but at least you were a worthy opponent to die by…merushi" he intoned, his honouring the body of his opponent.

'Wait a second, why hasn't the body of the hollow dissolved yet. It should have vanished the moment it was slain, how can it…' "…Quickly! Move away from the hollow" Hisagi shouted, moving quickly to pull the teenager away. But he was too slow once again.

A garganta ripped open behind Ranma and the hollow, exposing the blackness of a void best never thought about. Before he could move or cry out, Ranma found his and the hollows bodies dissolving into dust to be sucked into the open maw of the dark. He tried to call out 'Akane' but could not; he could only stretch out his hand as his body and it dissolved into nothing.

**Soul Society**

Within his private study, Sosuke Aizen was busying himself greatly. It would not be long before all of his planning; all of his work came to fruition. Tonight he had begun by entering the Central 46 chambers and slaughtered the judiciary there, freeing up the great libraries of information stored there. Now all he needed was to find out about the whereabouts of the oken and…where was that beeping sound coming from?

'I wonder what that could be…' he thought, crossing the room from his study to a computer panel he used to document his research. '…ah subject 113 has been killed in the human world, how interesting. And it appears that a whole has been caught in the garganta, how interesting.' Leaving the screen he returned to his papers, he still needed to keep the air of an obedient captain, if only for a few more months.

**Human world**

Hisagi cursed as he slammed his zanpakuto into the ground, grinding his teeth in frustration. This would need to be reported to Kaname-taicho at once, but he first needed to erase the memories of the humans present. It sucked a lot removing the last words of their friend and in one case lover from their minds, but it was protocol and protocol HAD to be followed. For the sake of peace.

"Where did Ranma go? What happened, ANSWER!" Akane bellowed, staring daggers of hate at Hisagi.

"I can explain everything, if only you can all look this way for a second…" he said, pulling out his kikanshinki. Before they could say anything, he pulled the release catch and in a poof of smoke the ducks head popped up and everyone present fell unconscious, their memories altered. Looking down at the overly cute object Hisagi muttered "Damn Women's Institution…" before leaving the blasted wedding ceremony to pick up the pieces and move on with their lives.

**Hueco Mundo**

Ranma opened his eyes and found himself looking up at black. Or to be more precise, a black nights sky. Painfully slowly, his muscles surprisingly difficult to move, he got up and looked around, gasping at the sight. All around him was miles upon miles upon miles of white desert, with the occasional tree dotted here and there. He remembered back to what had happened with the hollow 'What was that, where am I. And more importantly, how do I get back?' he asked himself, calling out into the wilderness.

"Hellloooooooo, anyone out there?" he cried, shouting and moving about for ages. He walked for miles in one direction, and then miles in another but found nothing. After a while he began to feel a sharp stabbing feeling in his chest. Looking down, Ranma noticed the chain on his chest and tugged at it a little. Finding it would not budge, he wondered what the pain was. Then he noticed the links at the end of the chain, they seemed to be eating themselves off…literally. Small mouths formed from the chain, causing the normally level headed(ish) martial artist to fall backwards in alarm.

"What the hellaaaaaaaarrrrrgggghhhhh…kami that hurts!" he writhed on the floor in pain. For hours he stayed in that one spot rooted in agony as his chain ate away at itself. He tried to tug it off to stop the pain, but that only accelerated the degeneration. Finally, in one final epic moment the last few links disappeared. And the true pain began.

The area on his chest that the chains had been attached to peeled away to reveal a gaping hole, just like the hollows. 'How the, how is this possible' Ranma thought frantically. Through the pain he began to feel an almost nauseous feeling at the back of his throat, like he was going to be sick. Clutching at his stomach, Ranma could only endure as his body burned. Then, in a final moment, a crescendo, he retched and began to vomit forth…white fluid. He tried to scream but was unable too, the white gushing from his mouth without end. It began to move from the floor and undulated, before suddenly shooting towards Ranma's face. 'Nooooooooooooooo' was his only screaming thought as the white covered him and he was engulfed in darkness. That thought, and the image of a girl whose name he could no longer remember.

'Akane…?'


	2. Darkness Rising

**Echoes of the Soul**

**By Lysander45**

**A Ranma ½ Bleach Crossover with possible crossovers into other manga as the story unfolds.**

**Please note, knowledge of both manga/anime is compulsory. I don't intend to spend half of my time explaining rivalries and so on, it would just take ages. For timelines sake, the story begins one month before the Bleach manga begins, and one year after the Ranma ½ manga ends. Enjoy…oh yeah, I don't own either manga but I can write about it so whatever. Disclaimer over.**

**Chapter 2 – Darkness Rising**

Hueco Mundo, a desolate and foreboding place not thought of except in nightmares. It is a place where vile spirits dwell, hollows. Formerly human, their souls twisted by loneliness, despair, anger and hate into monstrous shapes, physical representations of the evil within their souls. For if a shinigami is the epitome of the light within a soul, then a hollow is the epitome of dark, a duality of forms.

When a human soul transforms into a hollow, it is a long and painful process. Usually this occurs in the land of the living, when a plus allows its negative emotions to overcome its rationality and they descend to darkness rather than ascend to light. However, there are exceptions to this general rule. If a plus is purified before the process is complete then all becomes well and they move on to Soul Society. But there have been tragic instances when somehow a plus is pulled from the real world into Hueco Mundo. Then they become saturated by the reiatsu present in the very air of the bleak landscape, and a corrupting process that normally should take months happens within hours or even minutes.

This series of events is sadly that which occurred to one Ranma Saotome. Caught within the localised negacion field of the experimental hollow named Spinebear he was pulled into Hueco Mundo, and within a matter of hours began his own painful transformation. This is where we co0me back to him in our story.

**Hueco Mundo**

It opened its eyes and almost wearily gazed out across the void. Where was it, in some white deserted place…who was it. It honestly did not know these things, like it was a proverbial newborn within existence. For some time it simply stood still, trying to ponder these questions with a small nagging feeling tugging at the back of its mind. Then a name came to it, could it be its name.

Ranma. Yes, Ranma, that would be its name the being decided. It meant 'Wild Horse' but in what language it did not know. What was language, all these questions confused the creature and made its head hurt. So to quell its morose feeling, it wandered through the desert looking for something that might show it what it looked like. It didn't even know that, the thought made it feel…depressed. Yes that was the word…depressed.

This lonely being called Ranma eventually found what looked like a rock, except it was not made of stone. It seemed to be made of some highly reflective crystal that he did not know of, but that did not matter. Only its intended purpose mattered, Ranma wanted to see what it looked like.

It stared at the surface of the rock, and if it was capable of such a thing it would have gasped in revulsion. Standing at eight feet tall it was for lack of a better term…horrifying. It was a chimera blending the features of a dragon, a phoenix, a wild cat and a horse all rolled into one terrible package. Its head was that of a tiger's skull, bone white with crimson eyes set within its sockets, and where whiskers should have been a series of dark tattoo-like marks were etched. A mane of azure hair running down its back from forehead. Supporting the dark masque was a neck set on powerful shoulders, which in turn led to a body covered in a blend of fur scales and fiery feathers, each in differing shades of green, azure and burning red. Its forelimbs were like those of a cat, heavily muscled with wicked claws on the ends of its almost skeletal fingers, and its hind legs were draconic and scaled. The tail sprouting from its haunches was noticeably equine. And from its back grew a pair of great wings several feet, made from scarlet feathers that seemed to burn and hiss in the air as if they were fire itself. And it had a hole, a large round hole in the middle of its chest that did not go straight through its body. It just seemed to open into some void, some unfilled chasm within Ranma's core.

"Whhh…t…m…i…wha…t…aaa…m…iiii…what…am I" he (was he a he…yes) managed to finally utter from his fearsome visage. Even his voice was terrible, a guttural tone that sounded like the blending of several different animal cries.

"I'll tell you what you are newbie…you're one more meal"

Turning around, Ranma looked to see a strangely familiar yet equally repulsive sight. Some bear-like creature with spines jutting from its back and arms, with the same white mask that he had. Why was it so familiar? "H…help…me" Ranma growled pleadingly, praying that this strange entity could aid it in some way to understand why it was in such a terrible place.

"Oh…I'll help you alright. Pathetic newbie…you don't know a thing do you, bet you've only recently turned haven't you. Oh well, I need to feed to power my regeneration cycle and you're the only thing within miles weak enough to snack on without effort. Now be a good weakling…and die!!" the strange monster growled, lunging at Ranma with ferocious intensity.

What could be described next could only be described as instinct. Instinct, that subtle override present within all creatures that can take control only in moments of desperation and doubt, driving us to do things our rational mind would consider impossible. Reacting with a strange quickness, Ranma coiled the muscles within its legs and leapt at the attacking creature with fangs bared. Intercepting the bear-like, hollow was it, in mid-air he twisted his amalgamated feline/equine/draconian/avian body until he was holding the hollow from behind with his fore claws. Clamping down on the hollows neck with his sharp fangs he chomped down hard, hearing the monster scream in pain.

Ranma then flexed and pushed himself away from the beast with a single great beat of both wings, tearing a huge chunk of 'flesh' from the hollows body as he was propelled through the air. Landing deftly on all fours, Ranma slunk down and growled. It was a fierce sound, un-tempered and wild like the will behind it. "I don't know why you are attacking me, but it shall be the last thing you do…monster" he uttered, his tone less animalistic than before, though he did not notice.

Spinebear threw its head back and laughed. That attack was a fluke, a lucky shot that had caught it by surprise. How did he know this, because he was Spinebear. An elite hollow chosen by Aizen-sama for experimentation and augmentation, destined for higher evolution and power. Because of this destiny, it was simply laughable that such an impudent whelp could even consider striking it down. Oh it would savour this meal with relish. "You take me down…not likely. TAKE THIS!!" it cried, throwing both forearms wide launching dozens of razor-sharp spines from its limbs.

Ranma saw the projectiles and continued to react on gut-instinct. Something deep within his core told him to block and not dodge. Suicidal as it sounded, he knew he would be fine. Bringing his wings down and spreading them over his body like a shield, Ranma felt an energy surge through his body and produce an effect.

Spinebear watched its 'children', as it fondly called its replaceable spines, fly through the air at the impudent newbie. He watched the newbie bring its pretty wings over its body to defend itself and almost scoffed, like that would help in any way. Soon the weakling would be nothing more than a…what?!

Ranma opened his eyes and smiled from within his defence. From outside, his wings were studded by the many spines thrown from his adversary, yet they had not penetrated his barrier. And why, because of his instinct. By sending his reiatsu through his wings he can harden the feathers to the density of tempered steel, an instinctual defence impenetrable by ordinary assaults. But it was not just a defensive manoeuvre.

"Impossible…that's impossible" Spinebear uttered, taking a couple of steps backwards in surprise. Nothing could stop its spines, he had the word of Aizen-sama himself that it was so. But how did this novice, this untried weakling who was in all likelihood yet to even feast upon a soul, able to halt his attack. It was inconceivable in the extreme.

As the spines crumbled into dust, Ranma began his counterattack. "You had your chance to run beast…now face the consequences of your actions" he muttered, and with a roar spread his wings suddenly. Hardened feathers detached themselves and sped towards the hollow at the tremendous velocity, emitting a fiery glow that created thin streaks of crimson in their wake. Spinebear could only blink and scream and tens of dozens of feathers impacted against its body, some piercing straight through. Blood spurted from its many wounds like a fountain, and with a gargle it collapsed onto the sand.

Walking over to its defeated enemy Ranma looked down with pity. He did not want to fight, but since the hollow attacked first neither did he want to lose. He never lost, Ranma Saotome did not lose. 'Wait…who is Ranma Saotome. Is that me…I…' Ranma began to ponder, but his train of thought was interrupted by something. The deep tugging feeling at the back of his mind had suddenly grown stronger, ringing in his mind, in his gut like a warning bell. It was accompanied by a sharp pain that spread through his veins like wildfire. He could feel an unnatural urge take over his mind and body, a single word being repeated over and over again.

Feed.

Yes, if he fed the noise, the nagging feeling would go away. If he fed the pain and the nagging would go away. Looking at the fallen Spinebear, saw only a means to end his suffering. Padding over his fangs bared, Ranma growled and with a sudden animalistic ferocity dived upon the body of the hollow. What could only be described as inhuman crunching and agonising howling could be heard from that area for several minutes. When he had finished consuming the still living body of his opponent, Ranma roared into the perpetually black sky. The pain and suffering had been abated for now, but it had been replaced by something else. With a spiking sensation his mind seemed to implode, as a thousand memories and images flashed before his eyes.

**Human world**

"My god how awful" Yuzu muttered tearfully as she watched the news with her family. They had turned on the television to have something to listen to over dinner, but had quickly forgotten their food when they heard the opening title of the leading story.

"Tragedy grips a community today as they wake up to the death of one of their members. Local celebrity and martial artist Ranma Saotome has died today in a strange explosion that severely wounded several others…" the news reporter narrated from to the camera at the scene. Each of the Kurosaki's looked at each other, before a tall man with dark hair turned the television off.

"Don't fret Yuzu-chan, daddy will make it all better with his…" he man struck a pose "…SUPER HAPPINESS FATHERLY HUG OF JOY"

Isshin Kurosaki was unable to act upon his fatherly impulses, as a swift kick from his eldest child sent him hurtling into the nearest wall. "Baka Oyaji, show some respect for that poor guys family" Ichigo yelled at his father, before picking up his plate and stomping upstairs. Once upstairs and safely within the confines of his room, Ichigo was finally able to breath a small sigh of relief. 'Poor guy, killed on his wedding day. And in such a terrible way too, his spirit must be really sad' he thought morosely. These feeling gave way to his own painful memories, of his mother. It was strange though, from the description of the damage to the Tendo dojo it sounded like the 'explosion' that took place was actually an attack from one of those monsters that he had seen today try to attack that small girl's spirit.

"It's close by." A voice interrupted Ichigo from his reverie of his bed, and looking up he gaped as a young-looking girl in a black hakama stood on the frame of his open window. "Who the hell are you!" were the first words of many that could be heard through the Kurosaki household, causing the other occupants to look up from their meal and listen for several minutes until the noise stopped.

'Wonder what Ichigo is doing up there…wait…that reiatsu. Shit, a hollo…' thought Isshin between mouthfuls, but mid-thought his vision was obscured as the wall by the front door exploded. And through the explosion, a loud roaring could be heard.

**Hueco Mundo**

Ranma looked at himself, horror once again gripping what should be his heart. 'Kami what's happened to me. I've become a hollow' he thought staring at the polished surface of the crystal boulder before him. After consuming the hollow Spinebear and absorbing its reiatsu into himself, he suddenly remembered everything. In a brief painful epiphany every image and memory from his life had resurfaced in his mind, and he was Ranma Saotome again. At least, mentally he was Ranma Saotome. Physically, a contradiction in terms considering he was dead, he was a hollow. A bizarre fusion of horse, phoenix, dragon and feline bound together by spiritual energy.

"How is this possible?" he muttered out loud, his voice finally what it used to be when he was human, albeit with a slightly deeper underlying tone to it.

"_Yer in Hueco Mundo dumbass. That's the reason yer Inga no kusan corroded so quickly and yer mask formed. Bit annoying though…I should be in charge"_ came a sinister voice from within Ranma's mind. Whirling around on all fours, naturally sinking low ready to move at a moments notice, Ranma looked around but saw nothing.

"_Close yer eyes baka…then we'll talk"_ spoke the voice again. It sounded familiar, though the high pitched tone made it difficult to link to anyone Ranma could remember.

Ranma closed his eyes, and was greeted with a strange mindscape within his head. It looked like an ancient temple of some sort, statues of old gods ringing a courtyard paved in leaf covered stone slabs. He looked down at himself, and was surprised to see that he was human again. _"Typical that you'd pick a temple fer ya mindscape, you really are borin Ranma and so painfully predictable"_

Again moving to search for the voice, Ranma was shocked by the sight that greeted him. It was…himself. A perfect copy of himself right down to the Chinese silk shirt he so often wore. Except this copy was completely white, hair, clothes, skin, everything white bar the eyes. They were black with yellow dots for pupils, creating an incredibly sinister look.

"Who are you?" Ranma demanded, staring daggers at his doppelganger "…ANSWER ME!!"

The copy chuckled darkly, _"Who am I? I'm you idiot"_ he exclaimed, revelling in the revelation he was giving.

'What?' Ranma thought paling, "What does that mean? I've meditated countless times and never found this place, my inner nirvana…I assume that's where we are"

The copy giggled like a child, disappeared before Ranma's eyes and reappeared behind him, leaning against Ranma's back for support. _"Bingo, got it in one. This place is a representation of your inner world, and since you pursued nothing but training since ya could walk, this is what your world has become. An believe me its booooooring. You pissed me off you did, keeping control with that will of yers. That body should be mine to use, mine to devour with, an yer stopping me. I must say it's a little annoyin to say the least"_

Taking in the information Ranma stayed steadfast, "Answer the question. What does that mean 'I am you'"

"_Exactly what it says on the tin baka…"_ the copy said, spinning on his heel to languidly drape his arm over Ranma's shoulder _"…say hello to the dark side Ranma, I am your father, boo and so on an so forth. The spiritual yin to yer yang, the collective representation of everythin bad that's part o Ranma Saotome"_

"So you're my yin…where's my yang?" Ranma replied, trying to keep the apparition speaking for a long as possible. Since he seemed to know so much, maybe he can find a way to reverse what's been done to him.

"_Oh, he won't be bothering us, not anymore. Since you didn't ascend to the Soul Society like a good little soul, that asshole will never have a chance to fully materialise. He never got a chance, that's they way things go with some people. Shame though, if we'd become a vizard before becomin a hollow, our strength would have been unbeatable. Seem's I'll have to become an arrancar instead…but only after I evolve to vasto lorde"_ the dark Ranma said in a sing song voice.

"What are you talking about bastard" Ranma growled, spinning to face his copy.

"_Tsk tsk, such naughty words. Papa'll have to spank the naughty boy yes he will. Now Ranma, be a good king and give this knight your body…we'll have so much more fun that way"_ the doppelganger replied, settling into a typical Saotome ready position.

"Never. I get you now, you're my inner hollow. That's all hollows are, spirits corrupted by negative emotions. Now I don't know how I became a hollow, but I am still in my right mind. And as long as I have control I will not allow you to hurt innocent people, I'll use this form to hunt you bastard hollows down one by one" Ranma passionately exclaimed, chopping the air before mirroring the hollow-copies ready position.

"_Then I guess we got us a dispute…king"_ the hollow gravely uttered, amusement and annoyance tingeing the words. And without any further sound, the two simultaneously leapt forwards into a flying kick, and the fight for dominance began.

**Human World**

Ichigo walked down the street on his way to school. What had happened last night, had it been real. First thing he could remember was that news story on the death in Nerima, then he finds this weird girl with a sword in his room muttering nonsense about spirits. That sending of the old guy had been kinda cool though he was loath to admit it, but the binding of his arms like that had been most definitely irritating. Then there was that strange monster that had attacked his family, Yuzu, Karin and oyaji had been hurt by it. He tried to stop it but was easily beaten, then that girl…she called herself Rukia…stood in front of the, what was it, the hollows attack and got seriously injured. He then stabbed himself with her sword and was suddenly wielding his own huge katana, and he easily killed the hollow with one slash to the head. After that he wakes up and everyone's babbling about a truck hitting their home, how could they forget like that, it was insane. Still, nothing he could do about it…right.

Noticing a familiar shape in the distance, he yelled and began running towards it "Yo Chad, wait up!"

**Hueco Mundo**

The fight between Ranma and his hollow had been going on for what felt like hours. But time, it seemed, in Hueco Mundo was completely different to what it normally was in the real world. And Ranma was beginning to feel the strain of the prolonged battle. 'This is nuts, how can this guy be so strong. Wait, he's me…of course. He knows everything I know, so whatever move I try to pull he can counter and vice versa. Still, somehow he's stronger than me and more brutal too' he thought as he warily eyed up his opponent who stood opposite with his arms crossed in a cocky fashion.

"_How could a weakling like you beat a shinigami like Saffron I'll never know. Even when bound in that regenerative gigai of his the bastard could still beat us hollows about, an you killed him"_ the hollow mocked, before charging in again with a wicked haymaker manoeuvre.

Ranma ducked beneath the haymaker and launched a powerful uppercut at amaguriken speed, but the hollow merely dodged by lazily leaning backwards before snaking through Ranma's guard to hit his solar plexus with a quick rabbit punch. Ranma saw stars for a second, and was rewarded with an axe kick to the skull that sent him eating stonework. Rolling out of the way of a downward palm thrust, Ranma pushed away from the floor and somersaulted away from the hollow.

'Is there any way to beat this guy, he knows every move I have. I tried hitting him with Moko Takabisha but he countered, I tried luring him into a spiral for Hiryuu Shoten Ha but he wouldn't bite the bait. Wait…that's it, there is a way to beat him' Ranma thought, spitting some blood from out his mouth. He stood up calmly and closed his eyes, entering what is usually thought to be a submissive pose with hands bowed before his waist.

"_Given up Ranma? It's been fun beatin ya up, but it's time for ya to get used to me bein the king a this castle"_ the hollow jeered, running in fist pulled back for the final blow. For Ranma, time truly slowed to a crawl as his hollow-self moved in for the kill. He opened his eyes and watched the fist angling for his face in a move that would certainly knock him unconscious if it connected. But it did not.

Waiting until the last possible microsecond, Ranma caught the fist with one hand and using the other caught the hollows arm and broke it at the elbow in a sharp twisting jerk. Moving along the arm to the shoulder, he kicked out the hollows feet and sent it crashing to the floor in a submission hold. Making certain to grind the copies face a little into the floor Ranma bent down, keeping the pressure on the hold constantly, and whispered into his inner hollows ear. "Now it's your turn to listen to me. I am the 'king' of this mind, this body twisted as it may be is mine to use as I see fit. Now here's how things are going to work. We are going to work together. Instead of quarrelling, fighting for dominance, I reckon we shall be stronger if we work together as a whole being. I don't know if you're just some psychosis or a spirit or whatever, but if you are my dark side and I am the light together we create inner equilibrium. I give you my strength, you give me yours. Now do we have a deal…or not"

"_You'd…be willing to share. Hehe, nobodies ever thought that one up before, it's a first. Be the king as well…why not. You've got a deal Ranma, you win. Now let me up so we can shake on this thing, isn't that what you honourable martial artists do?"_

Loosening the submission hold on the hollow, Ranma allowed it to get up and held out his hand. The hollow rose to its feet and firmly grasped Ranma's hand, grinning widely like a madman. _"Don't know how this'll turn out…could be fun. You up for the challenge Ranma" _it asked sarcastically, pulling Ranma in close with a jerk.

Ranma looked deep within his heart, this was the only means he could fathom to seeing Akane again. "Yeah" was all he could utter.

"_Then lets raise some hell…partner"_ the hollow chuckled, and everything went black as the mindscape vanished. And for the briefest of moments, Ranma could swear he saw a dragon flying overhead.

**Human world**

"Hurry Ichigo, the hollow should be materialising any time soon" Rukia called to her wayward charge. She would make Ichigo into a shinigami whether he liked it or not, someone had to perform her duties and as the one who absorbed her powers, he was the only qualified choice. Urahara was known to occasionally indulge in the purification of a hollow if it strayed close to his precious shop, but those were rare occasions few and far between.

"Listen I already told ya Rukia, I don't fight for no particular reason. Last night my family was in danger" Ichigo protested, following the weird girl out of curiosity more than anything. They both arrived at the Yumizawa children's park at waited for roughly twenty minutes, until Ichigo decided to speak up again. "Why the hell have you brought me here, what happened to my body"

"Your body will be fine, just think of it as sleeping for the time being. Do any spirits come to this park" Rukia replied, her question posed after a minute or so's pause.

"Uh yeah, a little five year old kid. He likes to play here a lot, says it reminds him of his mother" Ichigo replied sceptically.

"Just minutes ago I received an order from Soul Society, stating that within twenty minutes a hollow shall emerge at Yumizawa children's park. That child you mentioned, he will mostly be that hollows target. It shall hunt him down…and kill him" she stated coldly, with no emotion betraying her feelings.

Ichigo was about to reply when a loud cry caught his attention. It was the little child's spirit, being chased by an arachnid hollow with six scythe-like legs and an almost reptilian head. Unsheathing his zanpakuto Ichigo mounted the nearby railing, about to vault into combat to save the boy when he was stopped by Rukia's hand.

"Don't help him. You told me you don't help strangers, that you're not that kind of guy. Wake up, whether they are near to you or far away there are people who will always need your help. Unless you become a shinigami you are just being a dead weight of no use to even those in need before your very eyes. All spirits must be treated equally, and you must be ready to commit yourself to lay down your life to aid them!" she forcefully proclaimed, stopping him from moving. Only after she had finished did she let go of his robe, offering him the choice.

Ichigo merely stood there for a moment, taking in all that he had heard. He had a vision of Rukia stepping in front of the fishy looking hollows attack, taking a heavy wound for his sake. Looking at the hollow, his mind was made up in an instant. Moving quickly, he got between the little boy and the hollow and halted the beast with a single strike, taking out one of its legs and sending it sprawling across the floor.

Rukia's heart skipped a beat "Ichigo, does this mean you have…" she started saying, but was interrupted when the orange haired soul reaper slammed his sword into the ground (mere inches from the young boys head). "Shut up! I saved him because I wanted to save him, I don't give a crap about an 'duty'. And come to think of it neither do you. When you saved me yesterday, were you thinking of a shinigami's duty to all spirits, sacrificing yourself isn't as complicated as that. I'll help you, but at the very least…" and with that he picked up his large katana and embedded it in the hollows head "…I'm gonna be different"

As the hollow disintegrated, successfully purified, Ichigo turned to face Rukia looking her dead in the eyes. "I can't make any promises. I'm not fully committed, and if things get tough I could run away. I AM the type who doesn't act selflessly for complete strangers, but neither am I the type who forgets his debts. I owe you, so that's why I'm gonna help you"

Rukia listened to his words, and couldn't help but smile at his frank honesty. 'Thank you…Ichigo' were her thoughts.

**Hueco Mundo, some time later**

For Ranma, time within the desolate landscape of Hueco Mundo has come and gone in fits and starts. Sometimes what feels a minute can stretch for a day, and other times months are moving by like seconds. During that time he has trained almost constantly in mastering his new form, the rules and powers that it holds. With his four strong limbs he found he found run for days upon end without tiring (at least they seemed to be days), and with his wings he could almost fly indefinitely as long as he had the strength to beat them. He learnt the reason his hollow body looked the way it did. During his unique life, Ranma had found himself coming into contact with strong individuals and equally unique circumstances.

His spirits form originally held the shape of a demonic wild stallion, free and untamed, but over time evolved into something else. The feline aspect came into being from his soul searing training in the neko-ken. The draconian elements came from his contact with Herb during their battle, when he inadvertently absorbed some of Herbs dormant reiatsu. And finally the phoenix elements came from his to the death fight with the Phoenix prince Saffron, when the sheer power of Saffron's attacks blasted him to the core. Each event helped shape his inner hollow into a unique and powerful creature, at least by the standards of a newly formed hollow. Just what it would become as it evolved was yet to be seen.

Under the…'tutelage' of his now quietened inner hollow, Ranma had begun to learn about hollows, their anatomy and evolution. Hollows existed separately until the occasion when they are drawn together into one mass, merging to form a Gillian class menos grande, their myriad consciousness fighting for dominance until one wrestled control of the body. From there the Gillian consumes endlessly until it is able to evolve to adjuchas, gaining power and intelligence with every hollow devoured. Ranma's inner hollow remarked that its almost a good thing that Ranma wanted to solely hunt down hollows, since it skipped the step of snacking on weak powered pluses with little reiatsu to energise the hollows evolution. Ranma did not really care. It was a hollow that attacked his friends and family on his wedding day, a hollow that had threatened his wife, and a hollow that had dragged him to this kami-forsaken place to become a monster. He should have ascended to heaven to be with his ancestors, now his humanity was gone forever.

So he trained to destroy them, to devour them and turn their strengths against them. Among some of the unique abilities his body possessed were technique's drawn from his experiences as a martial artist when he was alive. He could gather his reiatsu into a single point and fire it as a powerful beam of energy, like his Moko Takabisha. He could move at incredible speeds, be it is attacking limbs or his entire body for evasion purposes, like the Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken. He could create swirling maelstroms of wind like the Hiryuu Shoten Ha, be it typical tornadoes of horizontal blasts. Then there were the advanced hollow skills natural to his hollow body, such as regeneration and the enhancement of limbs. But his key power drawn from a lifetime studying the Musabetsu Kakutō Ryū, was the remarkable ability to analyze and duplicate the powers of any hollow he came into contact with, for example from the hollow Spinebear he learnt the advanced skill of creating bala blasts by firing hardened reiatsu, as well as the power to grow and fire spines of bone from his body. All of these combined with a heightened level of energy absorption, be it the reishi all around him or the power stored within a hollows corpse, made Ranma an effective hollow killing machine.

He had come into contact with many hollows since his arrival and transformation, roughly seventy eight in total. Each were defeated with varying degrees of success, some being far stronger than others. Every time he defeated them in combat he allowed himself to give into the constant nagging desire to devour, gorging his primal mind with the reiatsu of his fallen opponent. But he had always stayed with Hueco Mundo itself, though he possessed the power to form a credible garganta to traverse to the human realm, he preferred to stay incognito until he had acquired the strength to fend off any possible shinigami attacks. He was still technically a hollow in form, though he possessed the mind and will of a human.

"_Can you feel it Ranma, we're getting stronger with every day. Soon we'll be strong enough to travel to the human world and hunt hollows there without having to worry about those racist shinigami dicks. A different environment, it'll be kickass"_ exclaimed his inner hollow from inside his head.

"Yeah, maybe" Ranma agreed.

"_Whaddaya mean 'maybe'. Of course it will, we're gonna be the strongest hollow of all. Once we attract others to our power and form a Gillian body, we're guaranteed to take dominance and evolve to adjuchas. And from there, vasto lorde, a god amongst hollows. Then you'll be able to make sure no hollow ever comes near those living friends of yours, and that Akane girl you seem to think about so much"_ it argued, laughing at the end lecherously.

"Don't you talk about her. We discussed that, you never mention her remember?" Ranma replied angrily.

"_Yeah, yeah whatever…" _The hollow was about to continue its verbal tirade when a sudden pressure in the distance caught its and Ranma's attention. Another of the abilities Ranma's inner hollow possessed was the power to sense hollows over a large distance, its limit being thirty square spirit miles. It was how the pair hunted within Hueco Mundo, moving upon any signature presence that appeared on their inner radar.

"You feel that?" Ranma said aloud, padding across the sand slowly in the direction of the pressure.

"_Yeah, something's going on in the real world. It's like some kinda baits been released there, like chum to draw in sharks"_ his inner hollow replied, a level of hushed curiosity and longing in its voice that Ranma had not heard before.

"Someone's trying to attract hollows. Why would they want to do that?" Ranma asked again, still moving, unable to help himself as his body was drawn to the baits scent.

"_Don't know, but you can guarantee that a lot of hollows are going to be drawn to this. Small fry at first, but judging by this baits potency its going to stick around for a while, and the longer its left the bigger the sharks that are going to come flocking to it…maybe even a Gillian."_

Ranma paused to decide what he might do next. He had the will to resist the bait and move away from its lure, but if his inner demon was correct then there would be some prize bounties to hunt if he followed the lure to its source. Gritting his teeth to suppress the hunger that came with these thoughts, Ranma focused his energies and with a roar released his pent up anger into the air. A tear in the fabric of reality appeared before him, a garganta to the real world and this hollow bait.

"_Looks like were headed for the real world after all. This is going to rock!"_ cheered the inner hollow as Ranma lunged into the black tear and ran, charging between two different planes of existence as if he were still on solid ground.

**Real World**

Ranma emerged in a human settlement, what seemed to be one of the towns located on the fringes of Tokyo. Raising his head, Ranma smelled the air around him, it tasted fresh compared to the dryness of the endless Hueco Mundo desert. Finding a spot to hide on the roof of a parking complex, Ranma closed his eyes and allowed his partner to get to work. Once they found a target, the hunt would begin.

**Elsewhere**

In the darkness of a closed off room, a mystical alarm chimed like a chirping bird. It awoke the sleeping occupant of the room, who reached for her cane and hopped over to inspect the device she had rigged. "Hollows, a mass of hollows all converging on a single spot. It would seem our little group shall finally have its trial by fire. I must inform the others." And with those words, Cologne called for her two charges and set off in the direction of the Tendo household.


	3. Hunters

**Echoes of the Soul**

**By Lysander45**

**A Ranma ½ Bleach Crossover with possible crossovers into other manga as the story unfolds.**

**Please note, knowledge of both manga/anime is compulsory. I don't intend to spend half of my time explaining rivalries and so on, it would just take ages. For timelines sake, the story begins one month before the Bleach manga begins, and one year after the Ranma ½ manga ends. Enjoy…oh yeah, I don't own either manga but I can write about it so whatever. Disclaimer over.**

**Chapter 3 – Hunters**

Moving through a kata, the silent warrior prepared herself for the battle to come. The group had received Cologne's warning and had decided immediately their course of action. They had trained relentlessly since that event four months ago, and now was the time to put that training to the test. Finishing the kata, the warrior calmed her breathing and felt her body hum with energy. She slid the door open to reveal a waiting cluster of individuals, heads turning to hear her signal.

"We move for Karakura town" said Akane with grim determination.

**Later, Elsewhere**

"We have a group of sixteen hollows clustered northwest Ranma, not far…" the inner hollow exclaimed, having opened its spiritual radar to scan for nearby prey "…also smaller groups west, south and southeast. Their appearing everywhere Ranma, where to first?"

Ranma did not answer, he merely opened his wings to with three mighty beats was in the air, flying in a north westerly direction. Ranma may no longer be a martial artist, but he still had the pride to seek out the greatest challenges. He would go where there were the most hollows.

**Meanwhile**

Ichigo's zanpakuto carved through the nearest hollow, a strange genie-like creature, which dissipated into nothingness. 'Damn it, that makes three. I need to think, Yuzu is at home with Pap, but where would Karin be? She's probably playing somewhere, but where? I have to protect her!' he thought, looking right and left for any other dangers. He continued along the street before the thought struck him, how could he find hollows in such a wide area?

"Kon..." Ichigo yelled at the doppelganger running behind him in his physical body "…I need you to find Rukia and get that phone thing from her!"

The modified soul argued a little, but after a stern scream to 'get a move on' from the irate shinigami he consented and sped off in the opposing direction. Ichigo meanwhile continued to hunt for his sister, not knowing that there were others that he knew that might be targets for hollows.

**Ranma**

Ranma roared like a lion as he tore through hollow after hollow, tearing chunks from their bodies with his teeth, rending limbs with his claws and otherwise causing carnage. The weaker predators stood no chance against the onslaught of righteous fury they seemed to be taking from one of their own, and within minutes of arriving from the skies above the flocking group of hungry spirits all of the hollows were gone. As their bodies began to melt away into the air, Ranma swallowed the flesh he had been chewing and took a massive inhale. The melting hollows suddenly became a mass of bright energy, which was sucked within the mouth of the cat-like creature standing alone in the empty field of grass.

Feeling the nagging hunger at the back of his mind dissipate, Ranma breathed a small bead of smoke from his mouth as he released his breath. "_Feeling better Ranma?_" came a slightly sarcastic barb from his inner hollow. It knew just how much Ranma hated sating his hunger for reishi, how it reminded him of just how far he had fallen. It also knew that, deep down, Ranma was also beginning to enjoy the rush he got whenever he sated the hunger, how it made him that little bit stronger than before.

"Shut up and find me another target" Ranma growled, kneading the concrete road surface beneath his feet with his claws. It did little to cool the adrenaline flowing through his form, but it was something to do.

"_Oooh, touchy. Fine have it your way…but you know I'm right…_" the hollow jeered. A moment later, faster than Ranma had expected, the hollow replied to his order _"…Ranma, something's up. There's heaviness in the air and the number of hollows in the area is far more than it should be for the bait that was cast. I think it might be a Gillian Ranma, a real mean bastard."_

Ranma listened to his partner ramble as he took into the air once more. He remembered the story of the Gillian's, massive hollows the size of tall buildings made up of hundreds of hollows all mashed together into one entity. Most were uniform, with a long nosed mask, but some had unique masks to represent the dominant personality of the beast. If one were here, Ranma prayed that it would be uniform Gillian with basic animal level intelligence. That he could take on, but if the Gillian had some intelligence behind it he would be in deep trouble.

Shaking the thought from his head, Ranma listened to his inner hollow calculate the amount of time they had before the Gillian would break through the sky. They had an hour or so before it arrived, and until then Ranma would track down and kill as many hollows as possible. His hollow self advised heading for the nearest high reiatsu signature, which was just what Ranma did, adding some haste to his flight as he sped through the air.

**Elsewhere**

Chad was panting; he had been running for a few minutes from…whatever it was that was chasing him and the pace he had to keep up had tired him out faster than he had thought it would. He was hungry after all, and all the evading he had to do to keep away from the invisible attacks aimed at him did not help a bit. He hastily climbed the steps to empty lot he knew was at the top of the hill, there he may have a chance at dodging the attacker better and fighting back.

But when he reached the top, Chad was shocked to see that the lot was not as empty as he had hoped, there was a group of kids playing soccer there. 'Oh no' he thought, recognising one of the kids, it was one of Ichigo's sisters. He heard her ask a question, but he did not here it as he was too busy diving forwards to avoid another attack. He grabbed Ichigo's sister, he couldn't remember her name, and rolled forwards as attack from whatever was following him caused a small explosion of dirt as it slammed into the ground.

"What is that?" came the obvious question from Ichigo's sister. Chad wished he could answer, but before he could speak another thudding attack hit the dirt. He pivoted to shield the small girl from the hail of dirt clods, before turning to look at the thing again.

'I don't see anything moving. Is it waiting for us? Or…shoot…If I could just see it more clearly' Chad thought, scanning the seemingly empty space for the familiar shimmering half-formed shape. Then he found it, and he kept his eyes trained on it warily.

Again he heard Ichigo's sister ask the question of just what was the shimmering cloud, could she see it? She sounded afraid, was this thing that horrifying? "You can see it?" Chad asked, only to get the reply "Are you kidding. Cant you? It's as plain as day."

Chad turned to ask another question, but all he saw was the girls scared eyes widen, and when he heard the cry "Look out behind you!!" he knew he had to move quickly. Grabbing the girl again, he felt her clamber up his back, and after a brief discussion they agreed on a partnership. She could see the monster, so she would be their eyes. He would be the legs, dodging the blows and keeping them alive. This worked for a while, until she asked him how Ichigo was involved in what was happening. That question caused him to pause, why would she ask about Ichigo. Had he been attacked? Was he being attacked?

"Quickly, right! Dodge right!" he heard Ichigo's sister cry out. Side stepping the blow, Chad took this opportunity to slam his own considerable fist onto the offending limb, feeling his fist hit something even if it appeared to hit air. But all this hit did was enrage the thing further, and before he could dodge again Chad felt an almighty thud against his skull. He hit the ground with a crash, rolling along the dusty earth for a couple of yards before coming to a stop. To his credit, he kept Ichigo's sister held tight, hopefully she was alright.

He heard footsteps, and the girl crying for someone to run away. Did she know these people, were they kids like her. Chad's mind was a blur of calm thought, despite the fact that he was bleeding from a head wound. He heard one of the boys call the girl mean, and unable to help himself Chad's mind journeyed back to a particularly strong moment of his own childhood.

'Why are you always so mean? What did it accomplish? You hurt those who hurt you…then what? You're very strong Sado…you're tall…you're handsome…you were born with all the things people wish for. People who are different get picked on. I don't know what it's like in other places, but in this world that's how it is. But Sado…learn to be kind. You've got big strong fists. You need to learn to use them for good.'

The voice of his Abuelo echoed in his head, and Chad knew his words were true. 'I know Abuelo…that my big fists aren't for hurting people. They are for protecting myself. I know that now. So please…give me the power.'

And with those words, an almighty feeling stirred within Chad, as if a sudden wellspring of power had been unearthed. Strength like he had never felt before flowed through his limbs, and on instinct he struck out. A great booming noise erupted across the vacant lot, louder than the beats of the monster, and Chad found himself standing tall and rejuvenated for the first time since this whole chase began.

"Hey mister, what's up with your arm?"

Chad heard Ichigo's sister asking him a question, and in reality he was in a bit of a daze. He was still buzzing with this strange energy, and when he heard mention of his arm he looked down. His right arm was now covered in some kind of armoured sheath, how had this happened. Chad did not have time to ponder as he heard the monster, for some reason he could see it now clearly, it was getting up and it was insanely angry at having lost an arm. It charged at Chad with mad eyes, and he charged it, for he knew with this new strength he could beat this creature. With a cry, he struck out with his armoured right hand, feeling the power flow through his limb.

**Ranma**

The sudden burst in energy drew Ranma spiralling through the clouds towards the location of a large energy source. It had been noticeable before, but now it had become a beacon of light. He could sense the nearby hollow as well, a growing pin prick as he shot through the air like a hawk. He saw the attack emanate from the big guys fist, it was like a fountain of reishi from a cannon, and it almost made him nostalgic for his own Moko Takabisha. He drew nearer as the hollow fell backwards down the hill, and he knew he had to be quick. The group of kids were preoccupied with the collapse guy with the large reiatsu, so if he was quiet maybe they would not notice him make his move.

With a growl he smashed into the falling body of the dead hollow and carried it into the sky. With a flick of his neck he threw it into the air and caught the body with his jaws. Using his forearms to grip his prey, Ranma felt the hunger rise up from within his gullet again, and with haste he tore into the hollows corpse. Even as it began to disintegrate he gulped down hunks of its body, before eventually inhaling the reishi remains as he did with all kills.

Scanning the horizon, Ranma checked on the progress of the Gillian as it slowly forced its way into the real world. The cracks in the sky were starting to converge; he only had time for one or two more assaults before he had to face the bigger challenge ahead.

**Later at Urahara's**

Orihime awoke with a start, the strange dream she was having disappearing in an instant. She felt a slight bumping sensation of her head, and with some closer inspection she came to notice Chad sitting not far from her with a bleeding nose. "Oh good morning Chad…" she said sheepishly, before it began to sink in that she was no longer at school "…Where…where are we?"

Chad pinched his nose to stem the blood flow, wondering just how Orihime managed to get such a hard head. "Goob borning Orihime. I heard you moaning and wondered if you were hurt, but it seems you were just dreaming. As for this place, I don't know where we are either. I only woke up myself a while ago. But what do I do about this place…" Chad said, motioning to the opening doorway where a strange man was entering the room "…is that he might have just saved our lives."

Orihime gazed at the man, dressed in simple white robe with a green haori draped over his back. She liked his taste in colours; the hat in particular seemed to suit him. But her attention was raised when she heard Chad question the man, something about new powers and the relation to Ichigo. Then the memories all came flooding back, the attack of that monster, Tatsuki getting hurt, and the appearance of those strange fairies who said they were her power. She remembered using each power in turn and beating the monster, then she could remember anything else. She must have fainted, the thought of which made her sigh inwardly.

With the memories all back and her wounds healed, Orihime listened intently with Chad on what the man had to say. He said his name was Urahara, and that the story he was about to tell was all true. As he spoke, Orihime could barely believe what she was hearing. Shinigami, gods of death who policed the afterlife. Hollows, evil misshapen spirits bound in torment that devoured souls. It all sounded so fantastical, and after it was all finished she found herself agreeing with Chad when he asked how all of it was possible.

"You doubt me? Is the story really that incredible?" Urahara asked. The pair nodded "Yeah, of course it is. Shinigami? Hollows? Do you expect us to believe that stuff without proof?"

Urahara's calm demeanour suddenly turned a little more serious, causing Orihime to gulp involuntarily. "You deny it? But you've seen proof. That monster with the hole in its chest that attacked you was a hollow. Before you reject my story, think of the pain and fear you experienced earlier and deny that first. Kurosaki Ichigo…as a shinigami he possesses an extraordinarily high reiatsu. But his ability to control that energy is very limited, and as a result it flows out of him at will. In fact, that energy is so concentrated that it can affect various other spirits. The same can be said of you two. Think back…on many occasions in the past, you two have come into contact with Kurosaki Ichigo when he was a shinigami. So your sudden supernatural powers that have lain dormant deep within your souls…were activated by coming into contact with Kurosaki Ichigo."

As the words swept over them, Orihime began to gradually piece the whole thing together. Despite what her outward appearance belayed, she was a pretty careful thinker, and she recalled all of the times she remembered seeing Ichigo as what she now knew were a shinigami. When he had saved her from her brother Sora, whenever he was forced to make on of his strange exits from class with Rukia, that time when Don Kanoji was at Karakura hospital. "Our abilities…were awakened through contact with Ichigo?"

"Yes" came the simple reply from Urahara.

"But I don't understand…" Orihime began, before Urahara cut her off in a soothing explanatory manner. "You don't have to understand. Your transformation is not a disease. You were merely given a key to the door before you. There's no need for sorrow or sadness, what comes next s up to you. You can use the keys to open the door or lock it tight, and if you do choose to open it you can still choose not to pass through."

A side door suddenly flew open beside Urahara, and a tall man with braided back hair and glasses knelt in the threshold. "Sir, the kumon, the sky ridges…they have begun to converge."

Urahara looked over at his assistant and long-time friend and merely asked "Okay…is everything ready?" Receiving an affirmative, he turned back to Orihime and Chad. "All right then…let's be going now."

As he turned to exit the room, Orihime chimed up, suddenly alert at the thought of movement. "Wait a second; we still haven't…" she began, only to be cut off once more. "Do you want to come along?" Urahara asked.

Unable to answer, Orihime and Chad gazed at the open door. Urahara continued "You desire proof for my story? Come see for yourself the world you are about to step into…and the enemy you have to fight." And with that they left the room and followed the strange man and his team, to where they were yet to see.

**Elsewhere**

Ichigo slashed through another hollow and rapidly scanned the surrounding area. 'Good…' he thought '…between the two of us we seem to have beaten most of the hollows. That means Karin and the others must be safe. Now with that dealt with, I can find Uryu…and clean his clock!'

Meanwhile, Uryu was still shooting down hollows wherever he spied them. His most recent target was a mindless hollow that looked like some kind of dinosaur. He fired an arrow at the mask with pin point accuracy and precision, ignoring the pain from his bleeding fingers. The bolt of reishi slammed into the mask, but rather than destroy it as had the previous hollows, the arrow simply stuck in the mask creating a crater-like crack. A second arrow followed, blasting the hollows upper torso into pieces. "I can't kill them with just a single shot anymore" the Quincy muttered.

'Something's wrong. There are too many hollows and my strength is beginning to wane. At this rate…' a painful memory, the reason for his crusade and his hatred of shinigami, forced his resolve to reenergise '…no! Why am I whining! I have to keep going, I can't lose! I'm…not wrong am I…sensei? I will avenge you!'

**Meanwhile**

As Ichigo and Uryu scoured the town for hollows to take down, a second shinigami (albeit a de-powered one) was fighting her own battle. "Hado N°4! Byakurai!" Rukia cried out, ignoring the incantation in favour of releasing a quick blast of power. She had been trying to find Ichigo when a hollow had attacked her, a great pig-like creature with a segmented body and whip-like limbs. The hollow repelled her shot and knocked her back in a single blow, and Rukia could not help but curse at her situation.

'Why wont my kido work? I cant shoot a strong enough blast, even though I have been in this gigai for two months now my strength is yet to return. This hollow is a pig, a pig that keeps repelling my attacks. Is this really all I have regained after all this time?' she thought, ignoring the wound on her leg.

She did not have much more time to think, as the hollow prepared another attack. Gritting her teeth Rukia prepared to dodge again, but a saving grace appeared in the form of a powerful kick that sent the hollow flying backwards. She looked up to see the body of Ichigo suspended briefly in mid-air, and she found herself whispering the boys name, until he came crashing down n her smothering her like a child desperate for attention.

"Rukia! I've missed you so much!" Ichigo seemed to cry, and the shinigami realised that it was not her Ichigo that inhabited the body. "Kon?! You must be Kon!" she exclaimed, trying desperately to force the enthusiastic modified soul off of her. The pair argued briefly like they usually did, until the sound of footsteps caught their attention.

"It looks like this place is safe as well, that's good…" came a familiar voice. Rukia heard Kon shout at the figure, whom she recognised to be the Quincy Ishida Uryu, that this situation with the mass outbreak of hollows was his fault. Gathering her senses she posed the same accusation to him and he replied back "…I suppose I should say nice to meet you, considering this is the first time we have talked one to one…Kuchiki Rukia…"

"…You in Kurosaki's body! Yes I was the one that caused this, but despite your accusations I did not do this to get people killed. Quite the opposite really. If Kurosaki runs out of strength, then I shall protect this town with my life! While the shinigami watch, I will protect everyone from the hollows! If I cant do that, then this whole contest would have been for nothing."

Rukia began to realise just what was going on. Uryu must have challenged Ichigo. "You…what were you trying to prove?" she asked, and Uryu was about to answer, when he noticed the hollow starting to rise behind the pair. Drawing his bow, he was about to fire a volley of arrows, when a slashing motion cut through the hollow. A small dust cloud was created by the blow, and as it cleared the trio could clearly see a figure standing atop the downed hollow with his sword resting on his shoulder unsheathed.

"I've finally found you…Uryu!" Ichigo began, gazing at the boy with a grin on his face. "If I could, I'd make you cry right now…but first, I have to kick this guy's ass" he said, grabbing a hold of Kon by the scruff of his shirt. "Kon! Where the hell have you been?" Ichigo shouted, and so began a quick fired argument between the two Ichigo's. Ichigo was mad at Kon for not getting back to him and Kon was defending himself by answering that finding Rukia was harder than he had thought it would be. Kon made an insinuation that he could find Rukia by her smell alone, and so Rukia joined the argument defending herself, telling Kon that she did not smell at all.

Uryu meanwhile watched the scene with a sort of detached bemusement, trying every now and then to get a word in but finding he was being ignored. Eventually he gave into some frustration and drew out his bow, preparing to fire and arrow to get Ichigo's attention. "I am you opponent Kurosaki!" he shouted, and was about to let loose his arrow, when the whole group heard what could only be described as an ear splitting roar.

The group turned to watch a large cat-like hollow with the wings of a bird land upon the bisected body of the hollow Ichigo had felled. They stood, dumbfounded by the sheer scale of the thing as it began to tear chunks of flesh from the dead pig hollow. It was a bizarre chimera of a hollow, made up of equal parts cat, lizard, bird and horse. Its body shimmered with different colours, its pelt a mix of feathers, fur and scales. They were mystified as the pig-hollow became a cloud of reishi that the cat hollow seemed to inhale. When it was done, the hollow looked up at the group and paused, as if it were analysing it.

The hollow remained perfectly still as Rukia and Kon backed up behind Ichigo, something told them that this hollow was different from the others, stronger. Ichigo, keeping his eyes on the hollow spoke to Uryu "You're right. This battle is between us. So how about we stop talking about who can kill the most hollows, deal with this guy together, and the fight already. Then this contest will be settled once and for all!"

"For once I may be inclined to agree Kurosaki" Uryu intoned, keeping his arrow trained on the hollow. He did not want to jump the gun on this one, especially not in his deteriorated condition. He had never seen a hollow eat one of its own, everyone he had come up against was after human souls.

Ranma gazed at the group, looking for an opportunity to make a move for the open sky. That kid with the glasses had a power he had not seen before, and the other sin school uniform had higher than normal reiatsu as well so they must have some tricks up their sleeves also. And then there was the shinigami with the massive zanpakuto, his reiatsu was off the charts. It almost burned Ranma's eyes when he opened his spiritual senses to look at him. Then a rumbling caught his attention, and he looked upwards. The converging cracks were starting to emit a rumbling noise, and what's more all of the hollows within the immediate area were starting to move in on the crack. They too were sensing the immanent arrival of the Gillian.

The quartet noticed that the intimidating hollow was gazing up, and as they followed its gaze they were staggered by what they saw. Up until now, none of them had noticed the cracks in the sky, and the sheer amount of hollows that ringed it added to the ominous effect. A humming sound drew their attention back to earth, where the hollow appeared to be charging some form of energy attack. Its body was hunkered down close to the ground, its wings extended for balance, and a ball of tri-focused energy was gathering in front of its mouth.

'Is that hollow firing a cero?!' Rukia thought in alarm. As the ball of energy reached a certain size, the hollow (still looking upwards at its kin) produced a massive roar that caused them all to wince involuntarily. The energy exploded upwards in a beam of raw power, flying through the air at supersonic speeds before smashing into a cluster of hollows. The creatures were utterly wiped out the moment the beam touched them, and for a minute or so the cat-like hollow dragged the beam of concentrated reishi across the mass of hollows wiping even more out. Nearly a quarter of the mass was destroyed by the one attack, their energy coalescing down to earth as the chimera inhaled again, feeding off its kills.

'Incredible, it wiped out so many…' Ichigo thought, and he was sure the others shared the same sentiment. The hollow breathed out a puff of smoke, gazed at the group and then turned away, running at a great speed away from them like a lightning bolt. They could hear its pounding limbs for a few moments afterwards, and were left staring at air.

"Ichigo, look! The other hollows are following that one" Kon said, pointing at the mass of spirits shakily.

Ichigo said nothing; he was still a little shaken by the display of power from the hollow. He was lucky that thing had not attacked them, that it seemed only interested in other hollows; otherwise he might not have been able to fend it off. His reverie was cut off by Uryu, who drew his bow and fired at the moving swarm of hollows.

"Wait Uryu! Look at how many of them there are…think before you attack!" he said, amazed that his apparent rival would take on such a force alone.

Uryu just looked at Ichigo out of the corner of his eye and smirked, firing another shot into the air. "What? Are you scared Kurosaki?" he chided, not giving Ichigo a chance to repute his claim. Uryu began moving in the direction of a nearby park he knew would be deserted. "Then it seems I have won the contest. If you're too scared to fight then I'll just have to deal with these hollows by myself…" he said, shouting loudly up at the sky "…Over here hollows! The last Quincy Ishida Uryu will destroy you!"

Ichigo watched as Uryu ran into the distance, asking Rukia without moving his head "Last Quincy? What's he talking about?"

Rukia stood, arms crossed and began to orate what she had learnt at Urahara's. "Two hundred years ago the Quincies were wiped out. All surviving Quincies despise shinigami…and the origin of that hatred lies in their annihilation. Two hundred years ago, the Quincies perished at the hands of the shinigami!"

This information made Ichigo take a double step, and Rukia continued unabated, recalling how Urahara had told it to her. "The shinigami wiped out the Quincy clan, though it was a hard decision to come to. It was a necessary evil, because the shinigami needed to eliminate the Quincies in order to prevent the collapse of the universe. You see, in the Soul Society, shinigami are often called balancers. An equal amount of souls must be maintained in the Soul Society and this world at all times…"

"…Otherwise the balance shifts, bringing about the destruction of both worlds, so it's the job of shinigami to adjust the number of souls in both worlds. The souls that are released from the Soul Society are accounted for by the shinigami when they are reborn as earthly creatures, and then the souls that die here are subsequently returned to the Soul Society by the shinigami…the same goes for hollows. By entrusting the transfer of all souls to the shinigami, the Soul Society can monitor the number of souls and maintain the balance between the two worlds…"

"…But then the Quincies appeared. Quincies completely eradicated hollows, they wipe them out and the souls that are released do not return to the Soul Society, they linger here creating an imbalance. This imbalance causes the position of the worlds to shift, and the Soul Society begins to bleed into this world. Life and death intermingle creating chaos, bringing about the destruction of the known universe…"

Rukia continued "…A few years after the Quincies were discovered; the Soul Society began pleading with them to stop, to leave the management of hollows to the shinigami. The Quincies stubbornly refused, and as their numbers increased the transfer of souls was disrupted to the point where a universal collapse was certain. So it was decided that the Quincies would be eradicated…" she finished with a sombre question "…do you think the shinigami were cruel in their actions. Its hard to say when you begin to think on it."

Ichigo did not answer; instead he set his head down and ran off after Uryu, leaving Rukia calling his name. After hearing that story, he had to go and confront Uryu himself. "Tch…were the shinigami cruel? How am I supposed to know…damn it" he muttered, heading off down the path that he knew Uryu would have taken.

**Meanwhile**

Not far from where Uryu was battling his small horde of hollows, Ranma was tearing through his own group, the total of hollows he had attacked with his Moko Takabisha having split whilst he was drawing them to a secluded spot. Why had that kid drawn away so many, even Ranma could tell that his bow was beginning to lack potency and he had barely gazed at the weapon. He needed to take these hollows out quickly before the Menos Grande made its inevitable appearance.

Rapidly gathering and hardening his reiatsu in his stomach, Ranma spat out a series of quick bala blasts, each azure ball of compressed energy smashing through a hollows head. But for each hollow he struck down, two more took its place as they gathered around him in an all encompassing circle. But Ranma battled on, utilising a rapid stream of attacks and dodges to weave between hollows of differing shapes and sizes, taking down one after the other. Pausing over the body of one to take a brief bite out of its hide, Ranma quickly thought over a plan.

Skidding across the dirt, Ranma took a deep inhale and began building a mass of reishi within his body. 'You always were a lying old goat oyaji, but you knew how to create a good technique. If I get this right I can take out all of the remaining hollows around me in one big attack!"

"_Ranma…there's someone here"_ came the voice of his inner hollow. 'Quiet I need to concentrate' Ranma bit back, holding the breath in and waiting for the right balance of air and reishi to be found. His wings spread out in readiness to guide the attack, he was almost there. From the midst of the mob of hollows, who were all largely keeping their distance from this strong attacker, emerged a hollow larger than the rest. The tree's around it were shoved to one side as a huge hollow resembling a scaly ape shuffled forwards, ready to pound this nuisance into the ground.

"_I mean it Ranma. I've been scannin these small fry and the surroundin area for anything out of the ordinary, and there's this big…void nearby. Its like a blank spot on the radar and its freakin me out!"_

The notion of a void set Ranma's pulse racing, he knew a technique that produced that effect and by the kami he hoped the notion going through his mind was wrong. But there was no backing out now, he had reached what he believed to be the right balance of air and reishi, he needed to finish his fight now.

As Ranma exhaled, expelling the air from his stomach, he flared his reiatsu to cause the hollows to pause briefly, freezing them to the spot. With a mighty beat that brought up sparks of dust and he cried out the name of the new technique "Hiryuu Raishu Kamaitachi!" As he did so, he did not notice the small crimson bomb with a short lit fuse sail gracefully through the air towards him. A great tornado of compressed wind engulfed the surrounding area, sweeping up all of the hollows with it. Laced with hundreds of blades of reishi, the maelstrom slashed the hollows apart with dozens of strikes to the mask and bodies. They hollows roared as they were reduced to nothing, and Ranma stood within the eye of the storm pleased that his mass attack had worked.

Then he heard the hissing noise, and his eye widened as he saw a small bomb fly before it. "Kuso!" he swore, before the bomb detonated and ignited the wind storm creating a massive explosion of fire.

**Elsewhere**

A massive booming sound alerted Uryu to the explosion, which he saw the top of from his own clearing within the park woodland. The wind generated by the blast buffeted him for a moment, causing him to shield his eyes briefly with one hand. The wind blew away the remains of another dead hollow, its mask shattered at his feet. 'What was that explosion just now. Was it that hollow again?' he thought, surveying the mob around him with contempt. 'I kill and I kill but their numbers only increase…sensei!' he thought, grinding his teeth in frustration.

"Uryu!" came a loud cry from behind the hollows. The archer turned his head and watched in amusement as Ichigo barrelled with way through the hollows, kicking and hacking until a dog pile of them lay beneath him. "I know your story now Uryu! Were the shinigami or the Quincy right? I have no real opinion of that. But I do know one thing…Uryu, your way…" Ichigo began, only for Uryu to cut him off mid-sentence.

"That's all ancient history."

Ichigo paused, unsure of how to deal with this development straight away. Uryu pushed up his glasses with one hand, "I don't care what happened to the Quincies two hundred years ago. I heard all about that from my sensei and its nothing but an old legend to me. That is not why I fight…" he said, shooting another hollow through the head as it lunged at him. "…When I heard the story of the fall of the Quincies, I actually agreed with the shinigami. I'm not so sentimental that I'd hold that against you. That is…until I saw my sensei die before my eyes."

**Flashback**

_Many years ago, atop a roof of a building. A master and student sit amidst lines of drying clothes, sheets fluttering against the breeze. "Sensei…" enquired a young Uryu "…when you told me that story, the one about the fall of the Quincy, you left a bit out."_

"_Hm, did I Uryu?" said the old man sitting opposite, eating from a small meal they had prepared together._

"_Yeah you did. Were the shinigami wrong in the end?"_

_Souken sighed, "That's not it Uryu. I think…that the Quincies were wrong for failing to heed the admonitions of the shinigami."_

"_But it was the Quincies who were killed" Uryu argued back, unable to see his sensei's point this time._

"_Exactly. Our people died, and after that it mattered little who was right and who was wrong. What we had to think about was how to make sure that such a thing would never happen again. That is all. Seeing the sad faces of humans or shinigami pains me deeply."_

_The young Uryu paused for a moment, taking in what his teacher had to say. "Master, I have one more question."_

"_What is it?" Souken asked again._

"_Will this traditional Quincy costume ever be updated? Its really lame…the sensei's robes too."_

**End Flashback**

"He was a kind man…" Uryu said after orating the small memory so Ichigo would understand what drove him better. "…My sensei never taught me to dislike or hate anyone. As one of the last remaining Quincies, sensei was under constant surveillance. But sensei kept arguing the case to the shinigami that Quincies were necessary, he thought of ways for the two groups to fight together. Shinigami, in the peace of the Soul Society are always slow to respond to hollow in this world. He argued that it would be better to have a contingent of Quincies in this world who would constantly be on the lookout for hollows, and able to deal with them quickly. But the shinigami's reaction was always the same, 'don't interfere with our work.'"

Ichigo listened to Uryu, watching as he shot down hollows even whilst in the midst of a story. Uryu kept on speaking "So my sensei was killed, one day he faced down five large hollows and it was obvious that alone he didn't stand a chance against them without the help of shinigami. But, as always they were slow to arrive. They showed up and slew the hollows, two hours after my sensei had started fighting. Sensei…had been dead for an hour before they arrived. In the end, sensei's philosophy never reached the shinigami. If they had embraced his ideals, if they had recognised the strength of the Quincies…they would have arrived in time to save him, and my sensei would not have had to die…"

"…So do you see Kurosaki Ichigo? I must demonstrate to you the strength of the Quincies. I don't want your help in this battle. You're a shinigami and I am a Quincy. Our ways of thinking are completely different. And if you think my way is wrong…then just stand there and watch as I prove its effectiveness." Uryu finished his speech standing stoically before the assembled hollows, and Ichigo shook his head, knowing exactly what to do.

Kicking Uryu in the back, Ichigo shouted at him "You talk too much!" The momentum carried in directly into a hollow, and Uryu promptly smacked his head against the hollows mask. This sent the beast back, allowing the Quincy to get up and shout back "What was that for!"

Ichigo didn't allow him to keep arguing, instead he slapped him around the head. "Just shut up! Man, your story was so long I forgot the beginning. The point is your masters number one desire, wasn't to prove that Quincies are better than shinigami, but to see them fighting side by side. If we don't do that now, we may never have the chance again. So shinigami and Quincy are bookends, fine! We'll just have to fight…" he took up a ready stance behind Uryu "…back to back."

Some distance away, having run after Ichigo to make sure he would be alright, Rukia and Kon stood listening for the sounds of fighting. Moments later, after Kon yet again tried to jump onto Rukia and hug her to death, Rukia was running through the park after Ichigo. Kon however, lay in agony on the floor holding his battered crotch, apologising in advance to Ichigo.

Ichigo and Uryu argued for a while over the idea of working together, until a series of moves later they found their partnership actually allowed them to take down hollows with practical efficiency. They stood back to back once more, and Uryu could help but talk. "Make no mistake I am not trying to help you. In this fight its kill or be killed and fighting alone against these odds is tough. We have no choice! We have to help each other!"

He had hoped (inwardly) for Kurosaki to rise to the bait and for their banter to continue, but instead Ichigo just smiled. "Isn't survival a good enough reason to overcome our differences…" he replied, which caught Uryu's attention a little. "…I'm originally a human. I don't even know that much about shinigami, and its not like I'm doing this job because I like it. But, I do want to defeat hollows."

"Why?" Uryu found himself asking.

"My mother was killed by a hollow…" Those words hit Uryu like a hammer, but Ichigo wasn't done. "…Now do you understand? But…I guess there is a little more to it. What I want…even though that's reason enough…is to make sure that no one else has to go through that. Since that hollow killed my mom, my dad and sisters have had it pretty rough. I don't want anyone else to have to go through that. I don't want to see that again, so I fight them…"

Ichigo slashed a hollow which came within reach in half "…I'm not superhuman. I know that I cant protect everyone in the world. But I don't just want to protect the few people close to me either. I want to protect as many people as I can. Uryu…whatever your reasons for it, this contest you challenged me to is endangering a lot of people. I was irresponsible and I wont forgive you. But now's not the time for that, there are too many hollows about and its kill or be killed. So lets work together and beat these hollows. I'll work with you even if you don't want me to. I can always kick your butt later! What do you say?"

Ichigo's reply came in an arrow flying centimetres past his face, which slammed into a hollow behind him. "Its funny…it seems even you can talk too much. But I understand…in other words, if we don't survive this we wont be able to fight each other."

Ichigo grinned, "That's the idea…but I'll still make you cry!"

Uryu smiled to himself, "You can try… if you survive." He then noticed something and called for Ichigo to wait a second, staring at the hollows who had started gazing into the sky. "Look at the hollows, they're acting strange. They're looking at the sky…as if they're praying."

They followed the gaze of the hollows, who turned out to be staring at the strange jumble of cracks in the sky. A rumbling sound began to become quiet clear to their ears, culminating in a series of loud cracks as the sky tore open. Actually, it was more like it was pulled open, as a massive face emerged from the crack. Great fingers twisted around the open hole in reality, pulling it further apart to allow whatever this thing that appeared was through.

"What the hell is that thing? Is it a hollow? I mean look at it its freakin huge!" Ichigo yelled, and before they knew it he and Uryu were bickering again. They weren't arguing for long, as a series of loud blasts impacted upon the hollows like gunfire. Through the smoke a small girl appeared, carrying what seemed to be a shoulder held canon.

"Oh Mr Kurosaki, we've come to help youuuuuu!" came a sing song voice from a little further away. Ichigo and Uryu stared at the new arrivals, and Ichigo could only mutter "Mr Hat and Clogs?"

**Meanwhile**

Ranma was hurt, he was hurt bad. He had not expected the bomb, and thus was unable to harden his body with his reishi to protect himself. It was another of the abilities gained from a hollow he had killed. He tried to stand upon the scorched earth, but his left foreleg was badly burnt, and a crack in his mask was sending agonising pain signals through his body.

He could feel it now, the void as he stretched out his spiritual senses. He recognised the feeling and knew who was behind it. He recognised the bomb as well, except this one was obviously a new and improved version. 'Please, of all the things to happen. Not them please kami not them' he thought desperately.

But for all Ranma's pleading, he was helpless as the spiritual void around him dropped and several familiar energy signatures appeared before his spiritual awareness. As if a curtain had been raised, now in a perfect circle stood his former friends and family, each in their own positions of readiness.

To his right stood his mother Saotome Nodoka and Tendo Soun, flanking an armoured Kuno. Each held a katana in a strong kendo stance. In front, Shampoo stood beside Mousse and Cologne with her twin bonbori resting at her side. The hidden weapons master has his hands held before him in a position Ranma had come to call the 'quick fire' pose. With his palms outstretched and fingers slightly bent, Ranma knew the Amazon male could throw a projectile faster than most people could blink. Cologne was perched atop her cane as always, except this time there was a tanto held in her left hand. To his left, Ranma noted Happousai, Rouge, Kumon Ryu and Taro standing side by side, which was odd considering the latter's hatred for the former. Happousai held his pipe in one hand and in the other a crimson bomb, his new and improved attack obviously.

"We have you surrounded…hollow" came a voice from behind him, which Ranma found oh so recognisable. The sheer volume of hatred and venom placed into the word 'hollow' made him feel like dying all over again. 'She is the last person I wanted to see me like this…' Ranma thought as he slowly turned his head to see the group behind him '…Akane'.

Yes, behind him backed up by Ryoga, Ukyo, Sasuke, Kodachi and his father stood Akane, dressed in a style of clothing that he had once sported in his lifetime. A sleeveless shirt and 'kung-fu' pants, with slippers on her feet, and Ranma even noted she had grown a small braided ponytail which hung down one side of her head, it suited her. It appeared to Ranma's sorrow that his pleas for her to move on with her life had been unheeded, and now she and the people close to him had set themselves on a path of vengeance against hollows, and since he now bore the form of a hollow it was obvious their intentions towards him.

His mind running in an attempt to figure out what to do, the despair he was feeling clouding his rational thought process. "Ranma snap out of it!" crowed his inner hollow, and for once Ranma was happy to hear its voice within his head. "We need to move now; the Gillian's arrival is imminent. We are regenerating but your mind set if affecting the process, if you lack focus it makes us weaker so buck up. If you don't get your head into game I swear I will take over and get the job done myself, even if that means hurting these humans you seem to care for so much. I will do it Ranma, do not test me!"

Hearing this, Ranma closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. Feeling calmer, he opened his eyes and noticed the latent reishi in the air from the mob of dead hollows he had destroyed. He needed to create an opening to flee the surrounding hollow hunters, anything to make them pause. Recalling how effective flaring his reiatsu had been against the hollows, Ranma produced a great roar and from the perspective of the group the air became very heavy all of a sudden.

Everyone, even Happousai and Cologne fell to one knee for a moment. Ranma was still learning to control this new energy at his disposal so the pressure would last an estimated time of a minute. Taking in a deep breath he drew in all of the floating clouds of reishi in the air, absorbing it into his core. The new energy left a tingling sensation, as his regenerative abilities were turned up at the increase in power. The tingling faded as the scorch marks and damage caused by the explosion healed.

Looking up at the cracks, Ranma could see he needed to take to the sky to face the oncoming threat. Then, his danger senses screamed in alarm and by instinct he jumped left, knocking aside the Happousai and company with a sweep of his wing; He had reigned in on the power behind the move, it was just enough to send them flying a few feet.

Ranma turned to face who had attacked him, and saw his mother of all people gazing at him stoically. Unlike the others, who were sweating slightly from the spiritual based trick, Nodoka looked completely unfazed. In fact now that Ranma looked at her, he wondered if the move had done anything to her what so ever. Had she been playing possum to draw in off guard?

With the effect over, the group took Nodoka's move as the sign to attack. Ranma found himself facing the nightmare scenario he had always dreaded as a martial artist living in Nerima. His rivals and opponents coming at him in an actively coordinated assault. He had to push his natural speed to the limit dodging and weaving between attacks, his larger body at odds against the smaller fighters. He knew he could usually move faster, but his body had yet to regenerate to the point where he could go beyond basic physical limitations using his reishi.

He hopped backwards to avoid Shampoo's bonbori and rolled to the right to evade Kuno's katana swing, only to come into contact with a barrage of knives and shuriken thrown by Sasuke and Mousse. He blocked these using his wings as a shield, but this covered his eyes and enabled his father and Ryu to hit him with a barrage of vacuum blades. Though he could not see the attack the fact that they shouted their moves name was a bit of a give away, so when the jagged sonic booms of wind and ki impacted against his body Ranma was ready with a hardened layer of bone to absorb the impact. So rather than lacerating his flesh, the blades merely caused light surface wounds that healed quickly.

This pattern of dodge and defend continued for a couple of minutes, until a flaring warning on Ranma's senses shocked him stiff. A distant ominous rumbling could be heard; Ranma turned his head skyward and swore. The rumbling grew until the spiritually aware group attacking him began to hear it, pausing in their assault to gaze at the sky also. One by one they watched in growing horror as the face of the approaching Menos Grande tore a hole in the fabric of reality.

"What manner of devil be this?" Kuno said incredulously, backing away slightly before the new sight. The others muttered similar comments, and even the learned matriarch of the Amazons was clueless as to what this new terror was. The Gillian pulled the rip further apart, forcing its way into reality.

Ranma looked from side to side and his heart began to beat faster. The Gillian was here and everyone he cared about was in its line of fire. He had not wanted them to see him like this, that had been his fear, but now he was more fearful for their immediate safety. His breathing quickened until he could hear it in what passed for his ears, and without knowing he shouted out "Run! All of you run now!"

It was only when he saw their faces staring at him instead of the giant hollow emerging from the tear in the sky that he realised they had heard him. Normally when he spoke aloud only his inner hollow and other hollows could understand him; to humans all he was doing was roaring or growling. It took years for a hollow to gain the spiritual presence required for its voice to be heard by humans and other souls. At least that is what he had been told by his dark self. But regular hollows killed regular souls, or at least they did until regular souls no longer satisfied their hunger. But Ranma had hunted other hollows right from the beginning, so the speed of his development must have been altered and sped up.

Looking left and right and the bemused faces, he decided to add to the confusion in their minds by reiterating his strange plea. "I said run! That's a Menos Grande! Move or you will die!" With those words, Ranma knew he could spare no more time and took off with the beating of mighty flaming wings. He headed for the Menos, knowing that what he was about to try would either be the start of a new chapter in his crusade or his death.

Akane shook her head as she watched the hollow fly away, her surprise at its words and the sudden arrival of this…massive monster turning to anger. She turned to the others who were still either watching the hollow fly away or gawping at the…what was it the hollow had called it, a Menos Grande? "What are you guys waiting for? We need to follow that monster and kill it before it hurts anyone else! Remember the vow me made, that we would find these demons and wipe them out, so that no one else would feel the pain that we feel"

The words dispelled their doubt and galvanised their resolve, and without saying a thing the group ran off after the hollow. All except Nodoko, who slowed as the group reached their top speed before slinking into the shadows of the trees. There was someone she needed to see who would confirm a few things for her.

**Elsewhere**

Sometimes it was better to be unaware of what you were seeing, because the knowledge of exactly what dangers you may be facing could be enough to drive you mad with fear. This situation rung true for one Kuchiki Rukia, who stood paralysed by what she was witnessing. Kon was pleading with her, asking fearfully what it was they were looking at. She knew the moment her eyes had seen it, but she had not uttered its name, as if her not naming the beast would make it go away.

"That's…that's Menos Grande…" she uttered finally "…A massive hollow formed from hundreds and hundreds of ordinary hollows…but…until now I've only seen illustrations of it in textbooks. But it's impossible…whenever that thing appears the Royal Guard have to deal with it. Its way beyond the abilities of one shinigami!"

The Menos pulled itself through the tear in reality, its enormous black body revealing itself steadily to Uryu and Ichigo, who were still baffled by its enormity. It was almost comical in its size, and the remaining hollows left over raised their arms and howled before the behemoth like it were a god. The Menos noticed its smaller kin milling around it, staring out of the corner of one of its red eyes. Everyone watched in confusion as a long tongue snaked out of its mouth and speared through the bodies of several hollows, retracting to pull the catch into eager jaws. It munched and devoured the hollows without pause, continuing its slow movement through the rift.

"It eats other hollows…what a behemoth! How are we supposed to fight something like that?" Uryu asked, turning to Ichigo for an answer. The strawberry blonde haired teenager only laughed to himself, prompting Uryu to ask 'what's so funny'.

Ichigo shook his head slightly. "Its pointless trying to come up with a plan to fight something like that. What you do…is you keep on cutting until there's nothing left to cut! There's no other way! Come on Uryu lets go!" he yelled, running off towards the beast with his sword held high.

Rukia saw Ichigo heading for the Menos and began running to stop him, crying for him to halt, warning him he had no chance of winning. But she found herself stopped, held back by Urahara who seemed to appear out of nowhere. "Urahara what are you doing? Do you want Ichigo to get killed?" she said accusingly.

"No…" Urahara replied, and as Rukia yelled for him to move aside he tightened his grip on her. "…I'm afraid I can't let you pass Ms Kuchiki, I am very sorry. Watch quietly…" he said, and Rukia felt her body go stiff as he gave her neck a slight jab with one finger.

'A bakudo…my body, I can't…' she thought, collapsing onto her knees.

"…This battle is necessary, for you and for him." Urahara finished, and Rukia found herself helpless as she watched Ichigo charge at the Menos as one of its great white feet took a step out of the rift. Ichigo's zanpakuto carved into the boot-like appendage, drawing some blood, but the Menos merely kicked him off as if he were an insect.

Uryu watched as Ichigo sailed through the air and landed beside him, firing his own arrow to see if it would have any effect. The projectile hit the Menos with ease but did little but create a small crack in its body, not enough to do any lasting harm. He cursed inwardly and called to see if Ichigo were alright, and was slightly relieved to see the shinigami stand up.

"Hey I'm fine…" he said, earning a harsh rebuttal for his strategy from Uryu. Ichigo explained that he had thought that if he kept hacking parts off the Menos then eventually it would fall like a tower and the head would be in reach. Uryu grabbed his sword and tried to pull him to one side so they could formulate a strategy, but stopped talking to Ichigo when he felt a sudden hot surge come from his active energy bow.

He looked at his bow and gulped. It had suddenly grown dramatically in size and strength, carving a hole into the earth with its density. He looked to his hand, resting on the blade of Kurosaki's zanpakuto and put the pieces together. 'Its flowing into me…Kurosaki's reiatsu. Even in this battle of spiritual powers, Quincy and shinigami are completely different. Shinigami materialize reiryoku from their own souls into a zanpakuto, they use the energy from within. Quincies gather random reishi from all around them, coat them in their won reiryoku and materialize them as hollow killing weapons. We use the power from without…so to speak…'

'…Just now when I touched Ichigo's zanpakuto, my weapon Kojaku the Lone Sparrow grew more powerful. Unbeknownst to Ichigo, reiryoku poured from his zanpakuto at my touch. If it flows like that involuntarily…' he thought, piecing together a flimsy plan that just might work in his head.

"Ichigo…" he said softly, trying to get the blondes attention quietly. Ichigo turned his head and was blown away by the sudden increase in size of Uryu's bow, and vocalized his surprise as such. "Woah! What the heck happened to your bow its freakin huge!"

"…Just shut up and listen. I may have a way that we can beat that guy" Uryu said, finally getting Ichigo's solid attention.

**Meanwhile**

Standing from another vantage point on a bridge not far from the park, Orihime and Chad stood gazing in wonderment at the sheer scale of the Menos Grande. Chad asked Orihime if she could see Ichigo and Uryu clearly, because to him they were a little blurry. She nodded and went over Urahara's words, that they were to watch from this vantage point and choose the path that they will take.

'The truth is…' she thought to herself '…I haven't forgotten a single detail. But…seeing my brother the monster and Ichigo trying to kill each other…I could easily choose to doubt my memory.'

"Chad…" she spoke up "…what are we supposed to do?" The question earned nothing but silence from her friend, but it did give him pause for thought as he watched Ichigo and Uryu.

**Ichigo and Uryu**

Ichigo stared at the rig that Uryu had set up, and unable to hide his cynicism said to his ally "You know you're an idiot." This elicited an incredulous 'what' from Uryu, who proceeded to explain why he had tied Ichigo's zanpakuto to his head and went down on one knee to hold his bow, whilst Ichigo stood behind him and held his sword.

"Listen to me! If you unconsciously release your reiryoku at maximum output whilst your sword and I are touching, I should be able to shoot an enormous arrow at that thing. Now hurry up and control your reiryoku. Let is build up and release it at maximum…" Uryu explained, but all that got from Ichigo was the following statement. "Um…I've never really controlled my reiryoku before" Ichigo said deadpan.

"…What! How do you fight hollows if you don't control your reiryoku?" Uryu asked, grabbing Ichigo by the front of his shihakusho. "Instinct I guess" Ichigo replied, eliciting another shout from Uryu who could not believe what he was hearing.

Ichigo shook off Uryu and tried to explain himself. "I mean how should I know? Controlling reiryoku means turning it on and off right? But what if there's no faucet? How am I supposed to control its flow? If I'm giving off a lot of reiryoku, then maybe it's on full blast all the time?"

From a distance Rukia watched, paralysed, and noticed that the fully emerged Menos had begun to increase its reiatsu. In the textbooks whenever one of these great creatures began doing this it only meant one thing, 'A cero? Its not going to discharge a cero here is it?' Her attention focused on Ichigo, who she silently urged to run, because she knew if a cero hit then there would be nothing left of him by the end.

Ichigo noticed the sudden rise in reiatsu and stared up at the Menos. "Look, there's no other way. Hurry Ichigo, touch me with your zanpakuto…again?" Uryu shouted, but all he saw as the last words left his mouth was Ichigo charging like a madman towards the giant hollow once more. "Wait Kurosaki! Come back here you jerk!" Uryu yelled, cursing Ichigo for his reckless fighting style. Even Uryu could tell that the sudden rise in reiatsu did not mean anything good.

As Ichigo charged, a red mass of reiryoku began charging up in front of the Menos Grande's mouth. A sharp keening noise could be heard as the energy coalesced into a ball, before with a bass-sounding thud it fired down at Ichigo in the form of a monumental tidal wave of red coloured power.

Ichigo gulped, but brought up his zanpakuto in defence by instinct, and with an almighty crack the discharge collided with his guard causing him to buckle and place his other hand on the flat of the blade for support. Uryu winced and turned to one side as the bright energy collided with his former opponent, and when he turned to stare at what was left he was alarmed to see that Ichigo had actually managed to deflect the brunt of the strike.

A vibrating keening noise could be heard and Uryu gulped as he realised just what was happening. 'That sound, it's like some form of sympathetic resonance. And what's this…abnormal reiatsu? Ichigo…is accumulating energy. This sound I am hearing…it's like a giant magnet pulling particles of iron out of sand. Maybe it is on full blast all of the time…yes, suddenly it all makes sense…'

'…No matter how much reiryoku a person has, if left unstopped to continuously spill out it will all drain away. If he cant even control his reiryoku, he must have an incredible amount to do what he does! If they turn on a faucet and the water gushes out in torrents, most people instinctively close the valve. But if Kurosaki Ichigo were to do that…if his reiryoku were to be contained, then the pressure would skyrocket! Then if the valve were suddenly opened wide…'

Throughout Uryu's deduction, Ichigo continued to push back against the tidal surge of energy pushing down on him. He could feel a sudden building pressure in his body as he raised his zanpakuto higher, and then all of a sudden he pushed up and with a great sweep a penetrating slash rose up the whole of the body of the Menos Grande, past the hole and through up to the shoulder.

The Menos meanwhile was taken aback by the sudden assault from the supposed gnat at its feet, and was left unguarded. This moment was to be used to astounding effect by something Ichigo, Uryu and the others believed they would never see again.

Ranma roared, releasing all of his pent up anger and frustration in a single controlled burst that forced a sonic boom around him. The Menos and all watching turned their gaze to focus on, in comparison a small hollow as it began charging up a surprisingly large reiatsu. You see Ranma had been watching the movement of Ichigo and Uryu as it had watched the Menos, waiting for the moment to strike, and when he had noticed Ichigo's surging reiatsu he knew that if he paused to allow the boy to work then he might have most of the legwork done for him.

Whilst Ichigo had tried attacking the Menos and working with Uryu, Ranma had been shooting back and forth around the Menos taking down the hollows staring up at it in worship. These kills had given him the boost in strength he had needed to perform what he knew was going to be a make or break move. Knowing he had the Menos attention, he sent out a pulse of reiryoku towards the great beast. As the pulse spread like the ripple on a ponds surface, clone images of his form began to appear all around the Menos head.

It was a technique he had acquired from one of the stronger hollows he had killed today, his body having finished digesting its form before adding it to his subconscious repertoire. The Menos looked left and right at the pests and fired forth its long tongue to skewer the interlopers, but all that happened was they fazed away to be replaced by two fresh after images.

Ranma used this time to begin charging an attack he hoped would be powerful enough to pierce straight through the Menos mask and head. His wings flared outwards, all his feathers blazing and standing on end as a ball of energy began coalescing before his mouth. The growing ball of reiryoku was sea green, and it was the beginning of what Ranma knew was his own cero. But then an additional energy began appearing as well, swirling around the growing cero in a tri-focused rim-like circle. The energies began to mix as the cero grew into the circle, and a dual coloured ball of sea green and azure began to swell and grow. The density of the coming attack would trump all his other efforts made today, and as Ranma chose to dispel the clone illusions distracting the Menos the ball fired.

"La Chimera Cero Muerte" Ranma said, the name of the technique forming naturally in a language he somehow knew all too well, despite never speaking it before as a human. A tremendous fountain of energy fired at the Menos like a spear cast down from the heavens, its blazing light a mix of sea green and azure illuminating the red and orange evening sky. It thundered through the air, breaking the sound barrier with its speed and leaving a crack of sound in its wake, and with a tumultuous crash like an atomic explosion it carved into the bewildered Menos face, pushing right through and exiting the other end.

Cracks from the gaping hole joined with the wound caused by Ichigo, and the Menos roared in anguish as it dropped downwards. All assembled gasped in fear as it seemed bent on crushing the nearby landscape with its massive bulk, but this was all for nought as it disintegrated into showers of reiryoku.

Ranma howled as his kill streamed towards him, taking in the energy of the downed Menos like a greedy baby suckling at mother's milk. Ranma had never felt such a concentration of pure power and strength, it was like a glorious drug making all of his pain go away and replacing it with something else he could not describe.

**Below**

Uryu and Ichigo, Rukia and Urahara, the staff of the Urahara Shoten, Orihime and Chad and last of all the Nerima Crew all gazed in their own levels of shock and awe at the sights they had witnessed. First came Ichigo's stand against the Menos, then the single hollows awe inspiring attack. One followed the other in a ballet that dazzled the senses and left their minds struck dumb.

Akane and the others had arrived just in time to see Ichigo's first strike, and from there had witnessed the hollow they had just tried to attack annihilate the gigantic demon that had tore its way into their world. The whole experience caused them to question what might have happened to them if the beast had decided to fight back rather than just dodge their seemingly feeble blows. 'If monsters such as these exist in the world, then we all need to be so much stronger to defeat them' thought Akane, clenching her fist in annoyance. She had believed their group to be ready, but this hollow had thrown their whole quest into doubt.

Rukia could not believe what she had seen. The spectacle with the hollow had been amazing, but even greater for her was Ichigo before that. 'That shouldn't have been possible! Ichigo cut the Menos from foot to head!' she thought, her hair blowing against the wind caused by the two attacks aftermath.

Ichigo meanwhile pushed up his hand into a 'V' for victory, yelling at the top of his voice. It gave Uryu some pause to take in what he had seen "What a guy? If that blow had been all, it would have certainly been enough to force that beast into a retreat!"

The Menos Grande was gone, but the crack in the sky remained from where it had forced its way into the human world. A gust of wind blew dirt across the open park as Uryu and Ichigo stood staring at one another. They exchanged some brief greeting before Ichigo held his thumb up to his chest. "You're supposed to say 'you're welcome' you know. I mean I just cleaned up your mess, so I think a thank you is in…order" he said, before collapsing onto the floor.

Uryu rushed over to see if he was alright, when against his will Ichigo's zanpakuto and right arm stood up in the air. Both watched in horror as the blade of Ichigo's zanpakuto began to distort and wave. 'His reiryoku is still overflowing; it's causing his zanpakuto to begin distorting. I have to do something or his spiritual body will explode from the pressure!' Uryu thought, and he began to move towards Ichigo. He felt a second surge of force as his bow engorged in size, the heat from the surge flashing over him like a hot wave.

Uryu was astounded, he wasn't even in contact with Ichigo and his bow had grown in size, it was hard to believe but it was even larger than before. A plan began forming in his mind, if he could siphon the reiatsu Ichigo was giving off and fire it into the air in the form of an arrow, he might be able to stabilize the shinigami's condition and save his life. He began drawing an arrow when he heard the sound of wings beating against the air. He looked up to see the hollow from earlier, the one that had left him so paralysed with fear that he could barely stand. The same hollow that had so spectacularly taken down that behemoth of a hollow not minutes before, Uryu watched it land a safe distance from him and Ichigo.

"I am sorry for before…" the hollow said, taking Uryu and the recumbent Ichigo back with its surprisingly calm voice and manner. Compared to other talking hollows they had individually encountered, this one was down right civil. "…I know this form is not the most welcoming one. Your predicament shinigami blazes like a torch before my senses, and I am here to help as much as I can. You…" it said, gazing at Uryu "…plan to siphon off the overflowing reiatsu to stabilise his form, am I correct? Please, allow me to aid in this task."

Ichigo tried to ask Uryu what the hollow was talking about, but he could barely move from the pain from his fall and the pressure on his chest keeping him immobile. He saw Uryu nod slowly, and the hollow take up a similar position he had seen before as it had absorbed the reiryoku from the massive hollow.

Ranma opened his mouth wide and took a firm stance, and began drawing in the reishi from around the downed shinigami. The archer opposite him moved closer to his comrade, wincing as the pressure of his engorged bow caused small cuts to slash across his bare arm. As he began firing off arrows forged from the spare energy, Ranma inhaled the energy he could from the atmosphere. He ignored the archer as he argued with the shinigami, saying that he was not saving his life for noble reasons, and that the shinigami must live so they may continue their rivalry. The words left Ranma nostalgic for the relationship he had formally had with Ryoga.

When Ranma sensed that the shinigami's life was no longer in danger, he closed his mouth and relaxed, turning around to use the tear caused by the Gillian to return to Hueco Mundo. "Wait…" he heard the shinigami named Ichigo call out, and Ranma turned to watch him slowly rise from his fallen position. "…there's just one thing I want to know. Are you really a hollow? I mean you look like one, but there is no way a hollow would do what you just did. I'm not saying I'm not grateful or nothing, I just want some explanations."

Ranma sighed to himself, he did not want to explain himself but he felt he owed something to the boy. Why he felt this he did not know, he just could tell that this teenage shinigami would be very important. "You are right in asking if I am a hollow. Though it pains me to admit it, I am a hollow. I became a hollow as my soul was dragged into Hueco Mundo, my body warped into this beast you see before you. But what I am not is a killer, I would never take a persons life by my honour as a martial artist. Some how I retained my sense of self when I changed, and now I must live out my life like this. I saved you because we have something in common, we both wish to protect those we love from hollows, and that is all there is to me."

Ichigo took a double take at the hollows words, suddenly feeling sorry for the feral creature. "You mean you were a soul who didn't go insane from grief or loneliness. I mean, that's how all the other hollows are born, that's what I've been told anyway. How is that even possible, do you even have a name?"

"My name as a man was Saotome Ranma. Now please…let me leave. My life is complicated enough without having to explain myself to anyone else" Ranma replied, not giving the boys time to ask anything else. With a leap he was in the air, within moments he was gone through the rip between worlds.

"I…know that name…" Uryu began, one arm supporting the other as he allowed is bow to dissipate. "…wasn't that the name of the groom killed in Nerima some months ago. I remember hearing about it on the news; his wedding ceremony must have been attacked by a hollow."

"Yeah, poor guy" Ichigo said, staring at the rip in which Ranma had disappeared. With that said he turned around and walked towards the approaching Rukia. This whole evening had just been an epic ordeal.

Uryu picked himself and watched as Ichigo began arguing with Rukia in the distance. 'It was all my fault for employing such reckless methods. Ichigo's overloading reiatsu nearly killed him. To avenge my masters I searched for shinigami, and when I finally found one I had to show him I was superior. So even though I knew it might endanger others, I chose this method. But that stupid shinigami asked me to join forces with him. I am sorry sensei…I knew that you never hated shinigami, that your dearest wish was for us to join forces with them. Maybe I was trying to forget my weakness…my weakness in not risking my life to help you. By blaming the shinigami I tried to forget my own shame. Sensei, today I helped a shinigami…can you…forgive me? I am a weak disciple…a weak disciple who could not die for you. Can you ever forgive me…sensei?'

**Elsewhere**

Having left his crew to clean up the damage and close the rip caused by the Gillian, Urahara Kisuke was slowly walking back to his shop twirling his cane in a circle. Things had proceeded exactly as he had hoped, and in Uryu Ichigo had gained a valuable ally. The only trouble ahead would be how the Soul Society reacted to the Menos appearance; Kisuke doubted that Kuchiki Rukia would remain hidden in her predicament for much longer. They would send shinigami from the Gotei 13 to take her back to Soul Society, and if that happened his special gigai would reveal a hidden motive for his giving her aide.

But he would be ready for that, Mr Kurosaki would naturally attempt to save her and he would be there to help him. Perhaps then he might atone for the unknown burden he had placed on the young Ms Kuchiki's shoulders. He paused down a quiet side street, a familiar presence making itself known behind him.

"You know its rude to follow someone unannounced…" he said aloud "…I had always thought that such an act would be beneath a noble of your stature."

Nodoka emerged from the shadows with a stern look on her face. "Kisuke…we need to talk."

**Author Notes**

Here we have it, a completely new chapter 3. After I returned to this story and re-read what I had done before, I felt that the previous chapter 3 really didn't fit the tone of what I was trying to do. Also it warped events in the manga a little too much. So I decided to move events to this, to make this dual between Ichigo and Uryu the right chance to reveal Ranma to the Bleach world, and it certainly seems to fit. From here I feel I can continue the story on a solid level, charting Ranma's evolution as a hollow and his quest to regain his lost humanity.

And what a chapter right? This averages a word count that is more than both of the previous chapters combined, setting a pretty high bar for me to follow. Will I stay on top, who is to say, but to my readers I say that this story is finally back. Stay tuned for further chapters over the summer, I shall try to update as often as I can, but there is my work of Legacy of the Hokages to consider, which is dragging a lot slower than I had thought.


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